4 February 2001
Khartoum — A group of 30 Christian Missionaries working in the rebel-held areas in southern Sudan has denounced the war in the region as "immoral and tragic," and appealed for the fighting to stop.
"We have come to the unanimous conviction that the situation of war in Sudan at the present stage has become immoral and a tragic farce," the Comboni Missionaries said in a statement after their recent meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
"It is no longer a struggle for the freedom of the Sudanese people and for the defence of human rights," the Church leaders said in the statement published by the local press in Khartoum Saturday.
The group described the war "as a struggle for power, business and greed. Many heartless people are taking advantage of it to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor."
The statement signed by the group's Co-ordinator of Justice and Peace Committee, Michele Stragapede, lamented that "religion is distorted and misused as a means for other interests."
Col. John Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has been waging a prolonged war in Christian-dominated south, against the Khartoum government.
"The number of victims is escalating, especially among women and children. Spiritual, human and cultural values are getting lost. Corruption, tribalism and fratricidal hatred are fostered," the Missionaries said in the statement.
Since 1997, some northern Sudanese political parties have sided with the SPLA to fight the Khartoum Government
The Missionaries claimed that relief supplies to the region were prolonging the war.
"We the Comboni Missionaries, working in the "liberated areas" of Southern Sudan, have decided to "break the silence" and intensify our commitment against the injustice that fuels the war in Sudan," the statement added.
They urged parties to the conflict to end the tragedy and appealed to "the political and economic powers of the world, to give up your greed and your selfish interests. Help Sudan to regain its lost humanity and identity."
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