Sudan and Sec. ot State Clinton

Here is the recent letter from the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan. Please pass this along. Please see their website at www.afrecs.org

The Honorable Hillary Clinton Secretary of State
2201 C Street
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Clinton,

I am writing on behalf of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (AFRECS) – an organization of about 200 Episcopalians including many dioceses of our church as well as individual parishes who have actively assisted the Episcopal Church in Sudan as a force for reconciliation and peace in that war ravaged nation.

AFRECS seeks to give voice to the deep concerns of our Sudanese sisters and brothers that the peace process initiated with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed by all parties to the Sudanese conflict is unraveling, that escalating violence in the region threatens the agreement, and that war and the suffering emanating from several decades of war could possibly return.

I know, Madam Secretary, that you, your special envoy to Sudan, and our ambassador to the United Nations are all aware of the fragility of the peace process in Sudan and the horrible consequences that will follow if the CPA is not faithfully implemented. However, I think it important to understand that as possibly the largest civil structure in Sudan, the Episcopal Church of the Sudan under the leadership of its new archbishop, Daniel Deng Bul, is seeking all possible means to keep the peace process alive and moving forward. This they are doing in the face of formidable obstacles. There is real concern among church leaders that the undermining of the peace process by those seeking an advantage in a divided and unstable Sudan will usher in another era of protracted violence and untold pain for the Sudanese people. AFRECS receives daily accounts of people being slaughtered and displaced by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) accompanied by pleas for help from their American friends. They ask us to seek the support of our government in stemming the destruction that they had thought was behind them. Thus we reach out to you and the Administration for leadership on this pressing humanitarian issue.

Our church partners in Sudan and many who have recently visited the region express desperation and frustration that the hoped for peace and stability that the CPA was intended to achieve is in danger. Daily instances of violence being committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army and a resurgence of tribal conflict which many assume has been instigated by the Khartoum government and supported with easy access to arms smuggled into the area all point to attempts to scuttle the peace process. This is occurring as Darfur continues as one of the world’s major humanitarian crises and as much of Sudan carries the burden of reconstruction and reconciliation.

It is our fervent plea that the Administration use its good offices and enlist the full cooperation of all those nations who nurtured and encouraged the CPA in insisting that the Khartoum government implement its obligations under the CPA, denounce and curtail the LRA, and cease from instigating actions by others which contribute to displacement of innocent persons and a destabilized Sudan.

The Archbishop in reporting on his Easter visit to Jonglei, one of the largest states in Southern Sudan, appealed to “to our partners, the Government of Southern Sudan and especially those governments and organizations that form Sudan’s overseas friends, in particular the United Nations agencies and the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands, …who as guarantors of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement … have a duty to prevent this nation from returning to war, and I urge you to consider very seriously the churches as key partners in the work of peace building on the ground.”

AFRECS asks that our government take this invitation seriously. We believe that our influence can help restore the strict implementation of the CPA. The specter of another civil war terrifies us all. Anything which our nation can do to prevent that from occurring would be a gift to a people who have known nothing but pain and anguish for nearly three decades.

Sincerely yours,

C. Richard Parkins Executive Director