AFRICA : SOUTH SUDAN : BISHOP CALLS FOR WORK TOWARDS PEACE

NAIROBI, January 17, 2012 (CISA) –South Sudanese Emeritus Bishop Paride Taban has said that hard work is the only way forward for the South Sudanese.
Bishop Taban told CISA in an interview on January 13 in Nairobi that the South Sudanese, “have been traumatized for so many years; it takes time for this pain to come out. Peace doesn’t mean you live in a place where there is no quarrel, no fight, no hard work and noise but to be in the middle of such place with calm hearts.”
The bishop further said that the independence of South Sudan is God’s gift to the people and that the South Sudanese “now have to contribute by working hard after many years of being spoon fed.”
Bishop Taban retired before the end of his tenure at the age of 68 when the final Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in January 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya, to put up the Kuron Peace Village in South Sudan.
Impressed by the peace village is Israel dubbed Neve Shalom (oasis of peace) where Jews and Palestinians of Israeli origin live together in peace, Bishop Taban spearheaded the formation of Kuron Peace Village in South Sudan.
The village, a model of peace, seeks to demonstrate that people of different ethnic groups can productively work together without animosity.
Bishop Taban believes peace among the different tribes will come through development in food production, formal education and peaceful co-existence.
According to him, “People have to be assisted to learn to be patient and to give time for the new nation to develop.”
While speaking about the church in North Sudan, Bishop Taban affirmed that she is there to stay. This was in response to speculations that the Church would be forced to move south after secession from the predominantly Muslim north.
“The Church belongs to God, not human beings. No human being can destroy it. It will face a lot of difficulties, it will face persecution but it will not be eradicated,” Bishop Taban told CISA.
The bishop noted that the presence of the Church in Khartoum is very important, as it has contributed a lot in terms of bringing development to the North.
He mentioned that the church has high credibility in the North adding that most of the children of the prominent people study in Catholic schools and their wives deliver in Catholic hospitals.
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