July 06 NEWS FROM SUDAN

Southern Sudan and Uganda choosing appeasement with LRA. The first international diplomatic effort by the fledgling Government of Southern Sudan is an effort to broker a peace between the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda.

In an effort to end years of emotional suffering and economic disruption in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan, peace talks were scheduled to start in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba. However talks have been delayed, according to a Sudanese spokesperson. Things are not off to a good start many of the countries that have supported the GOSS, including the US, are not happy about negotiations with a known terrorist group.

The talks were scheduled to start on Wednesday July 12th but as of that date the GOSS had not issued an invitation to Uganda to send its negotiating team. Woops! Not only that vice president Riek Machar failed to return to Juba from meetings with the LRA. He had remained with the LRA faction near the border of Congo in hopes of a direct meeting with Joseph Koney.

Uganda has sent an envoy to the international court in The Hague seeking to have arrest warrants against the top LRA leaders dropped so that they can participate in the talks. One of the perceived problems is that at this point all the negotiators are too far down the line in the LRA leadership.

Years of neglect because of war has caused fresh disease outbreaks. A World Health Organization spokesperson recently stated, "South Sudan has pretty much all the neglected diseases and has them in large quantities. These are not new diseases, but during the war health systems broke down and now the health system needs to be strengthened to get, and keep, them under control."

“These so-called neglected tropical diseases include leprosy, elephantiasis, Kala Azar, which breaks down the immune system, river blindness, cholera, sleeping sickness, guinea worm and Buruli ulcer, described by one doctor as the 'flesh-eating disease'. These diseases don't have a high visibility, because they occur among populations living in remote areas; they affect people 'at the end of the road'.” IRIN

Road building begins in Southern Sudan. Unlike other under developed countries Southern Sudan is receiving income from the nations oil fields and its leaders are anxious to demonstrate change. The GOSS has committed $30 million for building a road network in the Southern Sudan. Rebecca Garang, widow of the late John Garang SPLA founder, is now Minister of Transport and Roads whom many have confidence will accomplish the huge task of building a road system in the south.

Money and equipment are not the only obstacles to road building in Southern Sudan. Recently at least six people were killed, and 11 wounded in an ambush on the vehicle of a German aid-agency which is building a road from Juba to the town of Bor. At first it was reported as German road builders were killed, but later reports are stating that those killed were the driver of the truck and a group of children riding in the back. However this raises concern about security to all the agencies working in the region. Every one assumes the attack was carried out by the LRA. The LRA was also blamed for an attack on the outskirts of Juba where nine people were killed by gunmen, they have denied being involved. It could be that it is convenient to blame every random act of violence on the LRA.

New radio station in Juba. The UN has launched a radio station in the south to educate people about the complex peace agreement that ended years of civil war. The Islamic government based in Khartoum has blocked it from broadcasting in the north in spite of a commitment it made last December to let the United Nations broadcast across the entire country. It is no surprise that this government controlled by President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir reneged on the agreement. The media there is one of the most Government controlled in the world, regularly censoring newspapers and jailing journalists.

The AP reports “The radio station will initially be broadcast mainly in the Juba area on 101 MHz FM, but it aims to build relay stations to reach most of southern Sudan’s roughly eight million people within the next nine months.”

Please keep praying for Southern Sudan. God is at work in Southern Sudan many people are turning their hearts to Him. Foursquare associate missionary Mark Warkentin who has been living in the bush in Southern Sudan for the past three years believes that the four and a half years left on the peace agreement is our window of opportunity to get the Gospel established in Southern Sudan. Warkentin said, “There is no way of predicting the obstacles that Christians will face once the accord expires. I feel compelled to do all I can to get the church prepared for that time. Louise Short, Sudan director for the African Children’s Choir, who has been working in Southern Sudan since 1998, said in a recent interview, “This is one of those times in history when the church has the opportunity to impact a whole nation, I hope we act in time.”

Sources: IRIN, BBC, AP, Sudannewsnet