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South Sudan: Christian leaders urgently call for peace following abduction of Bishop

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Christian leaders in South Sudan have issued urgent calls for peace after the Bishop of Morobo and his driver survived a violent abduction by armed insurgents on Monday, Christian Today (CT) reports. The kidnappers claimed to be members of the National Salvation Front, a militant group opposed to the South Sudanese government.

Bishop Amosa Data Elinoma was traveling from Koboko to his diocese in Morobo on the border of Uganda and Congo on June 5 when his car was ambushed at gunpoint and forced off the road into the bush, CT reports. Bishop Elinoma and his driver were ordered out of the car, and made to sit with other kidnapping victims. Their belongings were stolen and their car was set on fire before the gunmen made off.

Calling the attack “barbaric” and “inhuman,” Dr Paul Yugusuk, Archbishop of Central Equatoria Internal Province, said in a statement that the kidnappers claimed they were attacking Christian leaders because of the Church’s support for the South Sudanese government, CT reports. “In conclusion, we passionately call on all armed groups in South Sudan to give peace a chance by utilizing mediation and other forms of negotiations to settle political disputes,” the Archbishop said.

In a separate statement, Primate of South Sudan, Archbishop Justin Badi Arama, called on warring South Sudanese parties to end “the cycle of violence and negotiate peace,” CT reports.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Bishop Anthony Poggo, said: “I call on those who continue to attack innocent travelers on the roads in South Sudan to respect the sanctity of human life and destruction of property. May all those who have taken up arms come to the negotiating table. Please pray for peace in South Sudan as well as an end to the ongoing conflict in Sudan.”