Anglican Communion News Service

In January the Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Revd David Smith, and the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd David Stancliffe, went to Sudan to observe the effects of the prolonged civil war on the country. On their return to Britain in February they reported their findings.

Visit to the Nuba Mountains

The Archbishop of Canterbury asked Bishop Smith to go as his emissary to investigate the widespread allegations of human rights abuses in the Nuba Mountains. The Bishop and his wife stayed in the country for three weeks and were the guests of the Diocese of Khartoum. The Bishop and his wife were "almost overwhelmed" by what they found. The Smiths heard of human rights abuses from Christians and Muslims but failed to find enough evidence to confirm or refute these reports because of the presence of police and security men wherever they went. Bishop Smith questioned the logic of the Government's tactics, given its desire to disprove the allegations. "At the end of the day, a strong impression that there was something to hide was planted in our minds."

The Bishop recommended an attitude of "critical solidarity", combining condemnation of abuse with "genuine attempts to help to relieve the suffering of the Sudanese people." He concluded: "No dislike for a Government's politics can be the pretext for withholding practical expressions of compassion for a desperately needy people." Bishop Smith reported his conclusions to the Archbishop of Canterbury on his return and plans to discuss his visit with local Muslim leaders in Bradford.

Visit to the South

Bishop Stancliffe went to the Sudan to find out for himself as much as possible about the situation in Southern Sudan at the invitation at the Archbishop of Sudan.

Bishop Stancliffe thought that for the Southern Sudanese, "peace remains their most urgent need." Bishop Stancliffe visited Lokichokio, a United Nations camp and co-ordinating centre for relief agencies close to the Sudanese border, a hospital and two refugee camps in Maridi, Western Equatoria, a refugee camp at Kukuma inside Kenya and a Red Cross hospital. He also went to Yomciir in the Upper Nile Region to see the Bible School there, a cattle camp and visited some villages.

The worst conditions the party encountered where at a refugee camp outside Maridi which had no water bore-hole for the 5,000 residents. The Bishop said after his visit that the major need is for primary medical care and education. "Unless the present generation growing up is prepared for responsible leadership, the future looks bleak."

Despite the war there has been a dramatic growth of the Christian faith among the Dinka population and there is an urgent need for more and better trained pastors and evangelists. "We need to invest more in people like Mark Nikkel, an American priest who is working out there, not institutions," said the Bishop. "He is virtually a one-man itinerant theological college."

Speaking of the impact the visit had on the group, the Bishop said: "The Sudanese are a generous and lively people. Even their appalling sufferings and the almost entire loss of their traditional way of life have not dimmed their sense of delight in life. Watching the children dancing to their new songs for a couple of hours each night by bright African moonlight was a tonic. The most important thing to them is that we are praying for them and that our support goes on."