Musings From Abroad

Pope Francis leads Anglican, Scottish church leaders, in prayers for Africa

Published

2 years ago

May 29, 2022

The head of the Roman Catholic Church Worldwide, Pope Francis, on Saturday, led the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Rev. Justin Welby and the Church of Scotland, in a special prayer vigil for peace in the African continent ahead of his scheduled visit to DR Congo and South Sudan in July, the Vatican said in a statement on Sunday.

While releasing details of the Pontiff’s itinerary of his July 2-7 African travels which he will begin in Congo, the Vatican said the Pope’s will travel to South Sudan where he will make what is being billed as an historic “ecumenical pilgrimage of peace” along with the Rev. Welby and the Right Rev. Iain Greenshields, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The Pope’s visit is expected to boost a 2018 agreement aimed at ending the civil war in South Sudan and will be the first overseas voyage for the Pontiff since he was seen using a wheelchair in public as he struggles with a knee ligament problem.

The 85-year-old Pope Francis has battled a major medical issue since last summer when he underwent intestinal surgery necessitated by what the Vatican said was a severe narrowing of the colon.

“While the various South Sudanese warring factions had signed a peace agreement after 20 months of violent conflict, the country is still facing heavy challenges including an economy on the verge of collapse, a deteriorating humanitarian situation and “an unsteady political will to implement the peace agreement,″ the Church of Scotland said in its statement while confirming the prayer vigil.

“I am genuinely humbled at the opportunity to assist our brothers and sisters in South Sudan in the search for peace, reconciliation and justice,″ Greenshields said in the statement, saying he, Pope Francis and Rev. Welby are looking forward to the African visit.

According to the itinerary, on the first full day of their pilgrimage in South Sudan, the three will visit a camp in Juba for internally displaced people and while in Congo, Pope Francis will deliver the homily during Mass at Ndolo Airport in Kinshasha.

After arriving in Goma, he will give another homily during Mass at the Kibumba Camp which is providing shelter for thousands of people in Congo who were displaced after they fled clashes between the Congolese army and rebel fighters.

Related Topics:Africa Archbishop of Canterbury Featured Pope Francis South Sudan

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Musings From Abroad

UN Security Council deliberates stance on Sudan war

Published

2 days ago

November 13, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The UN Security Council is discussing a British-drafted resolution calling on Sudan’s warring parties to stop hostilities and permit safe, quick, and unimpeded assistance supplies across borders and front lines.

The world’s largest relocation crisis began in April 2023 when the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces engaged in a power battle ahead of a planned transfer to civilian administration.

Waves of ethnically motivated violence have resulted, with the RSF mostly to blame. The RSF has blamed the action on rogue actors and denies causing harm to civilians in Sudan. Two RSF generals were named last week by a Security Council committee in the first U.N. sanctions levied during the ongoing conflict.

“Nineteen months into the war, both sides are committing egregious human rights violations, including the widespread rape of women and girls,” Britain’s U.N. ambassador, Barbara Woodward, told reporters at the start of this month as Britain assumed the Security Council’s presidency for November.

“More than half the Sudanese population are experiencing severe food insecurity,” she said. “Despite this, the SAF and the RSF remain focussed on fighting each other and not the famine and suffering facing their country.”

According to diplomats, Britain wants to vote on the draft resolution as soon as possible. A resolution must receive nine votes or more to pass and not be vetoed by the United States, France, Britain, Russia, or China.

Nearly 25 million people, or half of Sudan’s population, require aid, according to the U.N., since 11 million people have abandoned their homes and famine has spread to displacement camps. Of those, around 3 million have departed for other nations.

In its draft language, Britain “demands that the warring parties immediately cease hostilities” and “demands that the Rapid Support Forces immediately halt its offensives” throughout Sudan.

It also “calls on the parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate the full, safe, rapid, and unhindered crossline and cross-border humanitarian access into and throughout Sudan.”

Additionally, the draft urges that assistance deliveries continue to be made through the Adre border crossing with Chad “and stresses the need to sustain humanitarian access through all border crossings, while humanitarian needs persist, and without impediments.”

Sudanese authorities have permitted the U.N. and relief organisations to enter Darfur through the Adre border crossing for three months, ending in mid-November.

Musings From Abroad

South Africa worry Trump’s victory might affect climate fight

Published

5 days ago

November 10, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

South Africa’s environment minister has expressed concern about the potential effects of Donald Trump’s victory on climate change negotiations.

The demise of Germany’s coalition government this week and Trump’s election coincide with COP29 negotiations to address global warming, which experts credit for this year’s devastating hurricanes, floods, and heatwaves.

“We are concerned about America because we don’t know what they’re going to do … how (it) is going to approach COP,” South African Environment Minister Dion George told Reuters.

“Mr. Trump said that he would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, but we don’t know what will happen,” George added in a telephone interview on Friday.

International partners are concerned that the prospect of an administration led by Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, will de-motivate poor and middle-income countries who want rich nations to shoulder more of its financial burden.

South Africa, which is one of the world’s top 15 greenhouse gas emitters and accounts for 30% of the continent’s emissions, has accepted $11.6 billion from rich nations, mainly in loans, for a switch from coal to renewable energy.

This is seen as a potential model for other ‘Global South’ countries who say financing pledges of $100 billion, which took years to come through, are insufficient.

“It’s certainly not enough. We need another target,” George said. “But then the question is: as the voter base is shifting in developed economies, are they actually going to pay it?”

The South African minister said he had been reassured by German officials that Europe’s stance at the COP29 climate talks will not be hurt by Berlin’s political crisis.

George said that Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s state secretary for international climate action, had contacted him to say it will be up to the European Union to maintain leadership.

“Their position is not changed and that is how they will approach COP,” George said, adding: “They’re on Team Europe. The European Union and German have clearly set out their objectives.”