Church in the World

Pope?s appeal cranks up pressure on Sudan

Pope John Paul II has called on the United Nations and world leaders to act at once to end the Government-backed militia attacks that have forced more than a million people to flee their homes in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

Addressing pilgrims gathered on 25 July for the midday Angelus prayer in the courtyard of his summer residence in Castelgandolfo, the Pope spoke of his concern for the ?beloved African continent? and said that he wanted to ?draw attention to the tragic events? in Sudan and also in Uganda.

The Pope may have had good reason to link the two tragedies. In the north of Uganda, across the border from Sudan, the rebel Lord?s Resistance Army, backed by Khartoum, has for 18 years been abducting children to fight in its vicious campaign against the Government of Yoweri Museveni.

Three days earlier the Pope had sent Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, to Darfur as his personal representative because of his ?great concern? over what the United Nations has called the world?s worst humanitarian crisis. Archbishop Cordes coordinates Vatican aid worldwide.

Winding up his five-day mission on Monday, the archbishop said he had found conditions ?indescribable? in the Kalma refugee camp. Aid officials have said that some 100 displaced persons, eight of them children, die there each day of malnutrition.

However, the Pope spoke first of Uganda. He noted that the Lord?s Resistance Army has been uprooting millions of people and depriving children of ?any future? by kidnapping them and enlisting them as soldiers.

?I appeal to the international community and to national political leaders to put an end to this tragic conflict and to offer a real prospect of peace to the entire Ugandan nation,? John Paul II said.

?Equally worrying?, he said, is the situation in western Sudan. Attacks by the Arab Janjaweed militia, which is backed by the Khartoum Government, have forced more than a million African Sudanese to flee their villages, bringing ?desperation and death? to the region.

The militia action also threatens a peace accord reached in May to end the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan.

?How can we remain indifferent?? the Pope asked. ?I make a sorrowful appeal to political leaders and to international organisations not to forget these our brothers who are sorely tried.?

During his visit to Sudan, Archbishop Cordes met Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako of Khartoum, Vice President Moses Machar and other officials. He said he urged the Government to give aid agencies free access to refugee camps and to guarantee security, so allowing the refugees to return to their villages.

?Indescribable are the conditions of thousands and thousands of persons ? at Kalma alone there are 10,000 displaced persons ? camped in the desert under straw tents with plastic curtains,? the archbishop said.

He said the Catholic Church is taking part in an ecumenical effort by Christian aid agencies to provide $17 million of emergency aid.

?Unfortunately, the war in Sudan has been passed over and ignored by the public for too long. Finally, the world is paying attention to this country today,? he said. ?Leaders who shape international policy have discovered their duty to look beyond their own interests.?

More than 30,000 people have been killed in Darfur and another 350,000 lives are at immediate risk, according to the United States Agency for International Development.

The 25 EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels earlier this week, called on the UN to pass a Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the militias and their sponsors if the Government in Khartoum did not rein in the Arab militias.

Sudan?s foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said the EU move was ?unbalanced?, and said ?We don?t need threatening.?

?There is no indication that the Government of Sudan has taken real and provable steps to disarm and neutralise the armed militia, including the Janjaweed,? the foreign ministers? statement after the talks in Brussels said.

The Dutch Foreign Minister, Bernard Bot, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, said the Sudanese Government was aware that ?the threat of sanctions is imminent if they don?t comply with the obligations?.

?We will monitor very carefully . . . every day, every week the progress in the field. In that way we can see at what moment further measures have to be taken,? Mr Bot said after the talks.

The EU also agreed to send extra funds worth more than $30m. to ease the humanitarian crisis.
Peggy Polk, Rome