South Sudan: Possible collapse of revitalized peace agreement after Vatican Spiritual retreat

Possible collapse of revitalized peace agreement after Vatican retreat, are we not like dusted devil in the house of God?

By Dut Kuot Akok, Aweil, South Sudan

Friday, May 24, 2019 (PW) — South Sudan is the only country where the numbers of churches are more than the numbers of schools, health centers, boreholes and perhaps restaurants. We do often flood churches every Sunday with cunning faces that we are believers when we are not including our so-called priests or Bishops. We are completely ugly like sin not in our physical appearance but in our perceptions, actions and attitudes characterized by hostile attitudes towards our fellow human we used to worship with every Sunday. We used to pray using footballers language of which everything does completely ended up in the field.

Currently the languages and faces we used in the church are completely different from the ones we used after stepping out of church gates in our various churches where we speak devil words.

And according to my personal observation, the current manmade debacle will never be overcomes through prayers or kissing the feet of the incumbent and the former during Vatican retreat. His holiness humbleness has surprised the world and I in particular was left perplexing. His humbleness should had been responded in to by our leaders in positive manner but to his surprise and perhaps regret, one among those he kneeled to kissed their feet demanded the extension of the formation for another six months in Rome followed by alleged recruitment with the intention of engineering another war as said by the president.

His demand in political sense is concrete because security arrangement is one of the most vital point that need to be implement first as stipulated in the revitalized peace agreement, he has genuine point to argue but our innocent victim was his holiness because he didn’t know our inhuman attitudes as south Sudanese. Predictably, negative indicators to collapse of revitalized peace agreement are lofty due to financial constraint and lack of political willingness to execute the agreement in letter and spirit.

And on the personal level, I was merely termed as warmonger and an enemy of peace by some hardliners because I was so pessimistic about Vatican retreat which was childishly said by them as to be the everlasting solution to our current everywhere madness.  And to be sincere, the said retreat by then was a political tour in nature according to the author. They arguably substantiated that the comprehensive peace agreement which was signed between the government of Sudan and Sudan people liberation movement (SPLM/SPLA) was a result of Pope John Paul visitation to Sudan.

And with all their convincing attempts, I strongly disagreed with them because touring Rome and kissing of our feet cannot and will never bring anything in term of peace to the people of south Sudan if we didn’t first reconsider the way we are running things blindly. To achieve everlasting peace in south Sudan doesn’t need prayers from pope but it simple need our efforts and believe in ourselves that we are one people from different tribal background since it is impossible to believe in God if you don’t believe in yourself first. It is by so doing that peace could prevail among the children of south Sudan who see themselves as sons and daughters of the creator.  

We should stop dwelling with such illusion that our peace is coming with none other than Pope Francis kisses. In reality, this current war will not be overcome through prayers as other are still believing up to date that the comprehensive peace agreement was brought through prayers which is a complete nonsense. Such perceptions is what had blindfold people to believe in such a thing.

And to disapprove their false claims, just let us assume that the visitation of Pope John to Sudan has blessed us with peace which gave birth to the independence of south Sudan, but the questions are: is Darfur, Blue Nile and Nuba Mountain who are still bleeding up to date were not parts of Sudan? Or why did his blessing exclude the citizens of Abyei? Hence, it is so unfortunate and childish for a sound minded person to believe that pope/prayers will bring everlasting peace to the people of south Sudan since ours traumatized mentalities and our inhuman social behavior are not easy to be influence through prayers.

Further, and to be frank, we should stop deceiving ourselves that we are believers while we are not. I said that we are not believers because; the way we talk against and treat others even in churches is against the teaching of the bible. I know religion is part of human makes up, cultures and intellectuality but to achieve them, first we need to ask ourselves that are we real Christians who fear God and love our brothers as we love our own selves?

And to be sincere, churches in south Sudan after 2013 turmoil are no longer seen as a places where you go to worship the creator as we know but they have been turned in to a centers for preaching hatred and tribalism to the congregation by some tribal minded priests who claimed to be priests while they are not because they teach contrary to the teaching of the bible. They are there just as tribal priests/Bishops with sole aim of preaching hatred and sing tribal songs to believers every Sunday; they have forgotten the principles of theology and instead opted to side with their tribes with no shame.

These self-proclaimed Bishops were supposes to teach what is true and healthy to the congregation, they are not supposes to teach evil things to the believers like what is happening in our churches nowadays of which they teaches contrary to what the bible say. They should be exemplary on how to unite our people whom social fabric is wholly polluted by our politicians rather than to participate blindly in what divide them in to regions, tribes, races, sections, and clan. For how long will we continue deceiving ourselves that we are believers?

How can we be if we have priest/bishop who called his fellow human beings who resemble the image of God as animals, how can we be if July 2016 war was said to be children of God victory over the children of devil according to certain semi-crazy Dinka pastor leaving me wondering as to who is not a child of God. A pure Dinka priest who was found in military uniform perhaps with his gun well cocked during 2016 crisis. We will never be if a well-respected bishop could sinfully say that those killing people at night have marks in their forefront perhaps in present of the president.

How could we be optimistic if the like of bishop Santo PIO of archdiocese of Juba (a pure Bari Bishop) and some schemers have prefer war than peace? The like of Bishop Santo are just mere mockers who do like to see people dying and suffering.

And to be specific, not all the priests and Bishops in south Sudan are tribalists but the way some of their fellow priests and Bishops act had forced us to lose confidence in church leaders in south Sudan.  Take for instance, our respectful Bishop of archdiocese of juba Santo PIO statement in Sudan tribune in 2016. In his statement, he aired out his tribal venom that the national prayers which was announced by the president as a mere political prayers with sole aim of blindfolding the international community, he swore not to attend it for the reason that, people of south Sudan are not in their homes.

He further stated that some tribes are being driven out from their homes and get killed by the government forces, and in his concluding statement, he disgracefully alleged that he is not talking politics but his work is to save lives and protect the people of God leaving me wondering as to how sincere was our Bishop. See how contradictory he was with his words, he said that he want to save lives and at the same time he was opposing national prayers that can path way toward forgiveness and reconciliation among the people of south Sudan if we truly believe in God.  In reality, our Bishop seems to have preferred war so that people continue blood-bathing themselves of which he will be sitting helplessly and watch them suffering.

 His rhetoric was a mock at justice and I am sure his wicked mouth that he gulps down evil wishes will be punished by the creator if he continues with that lying tongue. It is true that, theology is a political science in nature, but it should not be used for stirring up dissension among the great people of south Sudan. We should stop involving ourselves in deathly liars that incite tribe against another because the way he alleged was none other than the incitement of people against others. Know that (Bishop PIO), he who pursues love, peace and reconciliation finds life, prosperity and honor.

Hence, the above-mentioned characters of our religious leaders and in particular Catholic churches will possibly make the realization of peace in south Sudan impossible even if Pope Francis kisses our feet across the country. And with all these evil fleeting vapor and deathly tribal venom coming out from the lying tongue of our tribal Bishops/pastors, however, we should not lose hope and faith in our creator since he is the omnipotent while those vomiting such evil things are human beings who will be judges comes judgment day. Perhaps, ‘’ then shall they that obey not the gospel be consumed with the spirit of his mouth and be destroyed with the brightness of his coming’’ 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

Further, I would like to advice our so-called tribal priests or Bishops that preaching hate speeches and tribal lyrics in churches and medias is not a solution but a destructive machine that can drive our nation in to genocide. And as Jesus said in Matthew 24:35 that ‘’heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.’’ Know that, this country called south Sudan will remain as a sovereign state come whatever and we will all pass on whether you are a bishop, president, rebel or indigent. We will leave her for the generations to come and we will depart this crazy world.

Moreover, we need to know the differences between the country and tribe as well as between the government and tribe because, a country belong to all of us regardless of our religion, tribe or political affiliation. Also, these hot-tempered priest/Bishops should be punish if we need to avoid the reoccurrence of such hatred and tribal lyrics, they need to be re-taught theological principles in order to know how fearing God lead to life and everlasting peace among the people even if they come from different tribal background, black or white, Christian or Muslim.  

Finally, and as it is said in the bible that ‘’ the mouth of righteous is fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked, their mouth bring us wisdom and knowledge’’, therefore, it is a time to preach what unite people who are in need of peace and stability and which will eventually pathway for effective provision of basic services in lieu of preaching what divides them.

God bless the people of south Sudan and change the hearts of our religious leaders who vomit burning rhetoric that can make our people to suffer forever.

The author is reachable via his email: dutkuot8@gmail.com

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