The peacemaker Paride Taban, who as Bishop of Torit was the first leader of the Sudan Council of Churches and a leading advocate of nonviolence across Africa, died in Nairobi on 1 November, aged 87.
His body was returned to Torit, in the south-east of South Sudan, and buried in the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul on Friday.
Born in Opari in Eastern Equatoria in 1936, Taban was an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Juba in 1980-83 and then Bishop of Torit until 2004. He led the Sudan Council of Churches on its foundation in 1990 and was a peace campaigner amid Sudan’s civil wars.
The Archbishop of Juba, Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, called his contribution to Sudan and South Sudan “immeasurable”.
Fr James Oyet Latansio, the general secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, said that Taban was “the most important figure in the history of the country”.
“Bishop Taban embodied excellence and was a figure of peace during the struggles and beyond,” said Latansio.
A statement issued by the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) said Taban was “a great shepherd of Torit Diocese but more so for South Sudan where he dedicated all his life for reconciliation and restoration of peace”.
The AMECEA statement continued: “His retirement as Bishop of Torit in 2004, at an early age of 68, could not be understood except in the context of his passion for peace which is reflected in his involvement in establishing the Peace Village.”
Taban’s pioneering role in the foundation of the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron, in his native Eastern Equatoria, won numerous plaudits. He set up the village in 2005 as a setting for education and cooperation to overcome tribalism, hosting a UN peace mission and a national meeting of traditional leaders.
In 2013, Taban received the Sergio Vieira de Mello Peace Prize for his work at the village, and in 2017 the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby awarded him the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation. He also received the peace award of the United Religious Initiative for Africa that year, and the Roosevelt Foundation’s Four Freedoms Award the next.
On Thursday, the day before his funeral, Vallanova University in Pennsylvania announced that it had awarded Taban the 2023 Opus Prize for humanitarian work, making a $1-million grant to the Kuron Peace Village.
Taban also worked in reconciliation efforts in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide and rose to renewed prominence as a peace campaigner after the outbreak of civil war in South Sudan in 2013.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said that Taban’s “long service to the Church demonstrated tremendous courage in bearing witness to Christ”. He said the bishop “never abandoned his flock and stood up numerous times for the persecuted and gave voice to the voiceless both in his teaching and actions”.
“While his departure has left a void in our midst, we are all comforted that Bishop Paride has left a long-lasting legacy in the area of peace advocacy that our young people can emulate.”
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