“We Need to Make Peace Among Ourselves”
An Interview with Bishop Daniel Deng Bul of Renk
by Ross Kane
Young Adult Service Corps
For American Friends of the
Episcopal Church of the Sudan
Alexandria, Virginia, USA , June 10, 2005
AFRECS: As a bishop with the people of Renk and southern Sudan, what is the attitude of the people at the grassroots in response to the North – South peace agreement?
Bp Daniel: Peace is being welcomed highly by the grassroots, because peace will allow our people to resettle into their homes, and then will allow them to cultivate and rear their animals as they used to do long ago; they will be able to return to the normal life they know.
AFRECS: Could you speak a bit about the refugees coming home, particularly through your diocese?
Bp Daniel: At the moment many people are going back to Sudan from different parts of the world and from northern Sudan. In my diocese—in a place called Maban—we recently received 20,000 people. I was told that in a single week Juba received over 15,000 people. People are coming in very big numbers, and this is crucial to the Church because churches are the first to receive people. The first place people come when they resettle is to the Church, then later to their villages. How do we receive people and how do we help resettle them? These will be the issues of the day.
AFRECS: I have heard some in the Church speak of returnees using the phrase “from nothing to nothing”, meaning that returnees are leaving the camps with nothing, but are also returning to nothing as they go home. This must be a tremendous challenge for all the churches because there are so few resources.
Bp Daniel: As the Church we are appealing to the international aid organizations and Non-government organizations (NGOs) that have the means to help our people resettle. The Church at times has nothing to give but we may speak for our people so that those NGOs who can provide food and water come in. If our people are given support even just for a year by the NGOs, they will be able to support themselves after that.
AFRECS: So in that sense, even if the church doesn’t have the resources to meet the direct needs of all those returning, at least the Church can be a voice for them to the larger international community?
Bp Daniel: Certainly. Since people report first to the Church we have a unique grasp of the situation. We can talk to those NGOs who have the means to help them, and so through the Church the Sudanese in villages get support from NGOs. The people come to us, and we show the NGOs those who have arrived, and then they assist them. The Church itself also has ministries to assist in resettling: we have clinics which need support so that bishops can help those returning, and we have schools where the children of those returning will attend, and the Church has a big responsibility in that.
AFRECS: Many speculate that as communities come back home there is potential for conflict between those who return and those in the host communities. What would be the sources of that potential conflict and how do you see the Church responding to that?
Bp Daniel: After people have been away from each other for the 21 years of war, we expect that they will not understand one another entirely. But if the Church is proactive in reconciliation it will help because all the people coming back to southern Sudan love the Church, so always they come first to the Church. We have to use that. Reconciliation is the key, it will bring the unity of our people, that they must accept one another, despite what bad things have been done by others upon one another.
As a Church we know people have changed from our former culture, and people have been influenced profoundly by a culture of war. To respond, the Episcopal Church of Sudan has formed a committee called the Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation Committee. This will deal with trauma, healing, peace building, and capacity-building, particularly in orienting people back to the normal life they led before the war. The committee has been in existence since 2000, and its mandate is to mobilize people towards peace, to transform Sudan from a culture of war to a culture of peace. Within 14 dioceses there are functioning Justice and Peace Committees, and we will form committees throughout every diocese in the province in the next year. We want each bishop and his people to be able to bring reconciliation, peace, justice and forgiveness in their own dioceses. The committee will deal with issues bringing people together, reconciling people, helping people accept each other. That is the work of all the bishops in Sudan. The Church is a major institution in the country, it is the only platform that existed throughout the war and we have to lead our people to peace. It is our sincere belief that the church in Sudan, positioned centrally in Sudanese society, is better placed than any other institution to transform this society from these numerous elements to a sustainable, peaceful, reconciled and God fearing society. Signing of peace on a piece of paper is not enough, we need to make peace among ourselves.
AFRECS: When you speak of making peace, is it peace both in North-South and South-South conflict?
Bp Daniel: Yes, war has made us be apart for a long time. During the war some enemies [in the North] who have been fighting the southerners managed to create division among us and our people clashed with one another. The challenge is that now we feel we cannot continue to fight among ourselves anymore, we need to forgive one another, leave the abuses and accept one another so that we can build a new nation. We cannot build a new nation unless we are talking to one another, so we are trying to help our people say “Yes we have harmed each other, yes we have hurt each other, yet we need to coexist, we need to be one people.” We need to do something to make us the people of southern Sudan. It is no use for us to continue quarreling, it is no use to continue backbiting, we have to be Christians and accept one another. We must say to one another let bygones be bygones—this is the attitude we are trying to build within the society of Sudan with those coming home. Many can point their finger to anyone who has done wrong to them, but we shouldn’t do that now. Now we should say let us forgive one another, let us accept one another, let us restart to build a new nation. A nation where we all fear God, because if we do not fear God we will not fear a human being. Fearing God shows that you love your brother even though you know he is a brother who has harmed you. You will say “I am sorry I have done this and that,” and then we will accept one another.
AFRECS: It’s a very prophetic message in the context of war.
Bp Daniel: This is what we are going to do. Most of our bishops are capable and they will do this through the Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation Committees which have formed in all the dioceses in Sudan. We feel we have the capacity to do that. What we need are friends like you, to come in and back us so that we can do these things effectively.
AFRECS: How do you envision help from friends like us outside Sudan?
Bp Daniel: On the side of advocacy and peace, I am envisioning those with skills in conflict resolution coming and helping train our church leaders. They can help and empower our people to carry out the job of reconciliation themselves. What we need is for our friends and partners to train us, give us the tools to be able to do the job.
AFRECS: Many Episcopal Churches in America have walked with the Sudanese for many years while the Sudanese presence here in America has transformed our own churches, producing many beautiful relationships. Now that the war is ending what do you see as the role American churches can play in the life of the Church of Sudan?
Bp Daniel: The American and Sudanese churches are one body in Christ, partners working together. We have to share the spirituality and share the resources God has blessed Americans with. There is much the American church can bring to us, and there is much that we can offer the American churches, it moves both ways.
I feel that the American church should take seriously sending in experts with technical know-how to give us a way of dealing with issues in our country. We should also encourage partnership between churches and dioceses, between parishes and priests, so that a priest in Sudan and a priest in America could have a link with each other. We are also interested for the churches in America to encourage its young people to visit us in Africa. Let them see how they can benefit from the youth in Sudan, and be encouraged.
AFRECS: This conversation will be very helpful to our churches here in America. We want the churches in Sudan to know that we understand the peace accord is only one step, and we want to continue to walk with you.
Bp Daniel: We have an African story which says “whoever visits you when you are sick in bed is your brother and sister.” You have done just that. When you are a friend, you are not only a friend when things are okay. You should be a friend when things are bad and when things are good. When we become friends in this world, God has brought that friendship, so there is no need to step down or step aside. When you see your friend is in danger you can’t run away, that’s how we look at it in Africa.
AFRECS: Any final message to American partners?
Bp Daniel: Let us continue in prayer,
remember our church in prayers. Let us walk together, the road is still
long and much to be accomplished. Let us give almighty God the oneness
that he brought us in His death for us all. That oneness will make us
one body of Christ.