Items of Interest August 22, 2011 Issue

Churches celebrate independence of South Sudan, pledge support of new nation

Fredrick Nzwili and ENI News

ENI News “South Sudan churches hope for new nation’s peace and growth” Ekklesia. July 11, 2011.

Church leaders in South Sudan expressed their readiness to help secure peace, stability, growth, and development in their new nation, which was proclaimed an independent state on 9 July 2011. 

The leaders led citizens in thanksgiving prayers on 10 July, a day after thousands in Juba city witnessed General Salva Kiir Mayardit sworn in as the first president. “We stand willing to play our part in sharing the burden of responsibility which rests on the shoulders of the government of South Sudan,” Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul of the Episcopal (Anglican) Church of Sudan said in a pastoral letter on Independence Day.

Kiir will lead Africa’s 54th state of nearly 9.7 million people, beset by serious social and economic issues. Most people live on less than one dollar per day. More than 10 percent of children die before the age of five and more than 75 percent of adults cannot read or write.

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