Amidst war and displacement, Sudanese bishops offer blueprint for peace

Catholic bishops in Sudan and South Sudan have launched a three-year strategic plan to deal with the several interlocking crises plaguing the two nations.

The two countries have for years been reeling from conflict, displacement, poverty, political uncertainty, and severe droughts.

In Sudan, former allies who ousted the country’s brutal dictator, Omar al-Bashir, have been fighting since 2023 over access to power and the control of resources.

In effect, Bahir’s three decades of dictatorial rule ended on April 11, 2019, thanks to a coup orchestrated by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary group—the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as “Hemedti”).

The coup leaders formed a transitional government, with Abdalla Hamdok as Prime Minister. However, the arrangement was upended in a 2021 coup when both military leaders decided the Hamdock-led government couldn’t endure. Tensions continued between the two men and eventually morphed into a civil war in April 2023.

General Fattah al-Burhan and General Dagalo failed to agree on how best to integrate the 100,000-strong paramilitary Rapid Support Forces into the national army, and this was the trigger for the civil war. Both sides have also been fighting for control over Sudan’s lucrative assets, including vital agricultural regions, trade corridors, and gold mines.

The fighting has left a horrifying humanitarian toll: some 60,000 people have been killed, 14 million people displaced, major cities destroyed, and critical infrastructure gone.

In neighboring South Sudan, a country that obtained independence from Sudan in 2011, long-standing political and ethnic tensions between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar have, since 2013, continued to drive cycles of violence.

In essence, shortly after independence in 2011, cracks emerged among the leaders of the world’s newest nation. And in 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy, Machar, of trying to foment a coup. Machar denied and instead fled to lead the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO). The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and SPLM-IO then went into open combat, igniting the civil war.

In 2018, a peace agreement was signed between the two sides, leading to the formation of a Unity Government, but implementation repeatedly stalled. In 2025, Kiir arrested Machar, completely collapsing the Unity Government. It meant continued armed attacks in states like Jonglei and Upper Nile.

The result is the deaths of at least 400,000 people and over 4 million people displaced. The UN estimates that in 2026, more than 10 million South Sudanese—about two-thirds of the country’s population—will require some form of humanitarian assistance.

Besides conflict in the two nations, lack of rainfall and drought have continued to decimate agricultural productivity, driving millions of people into hunger.

The interlocking crises have prompted the Catholic bishops in Sudan and South Sudan to act.

“The Church cannot remain indifferent in this suffering. We are called to be the voice for the voiceless, an instrument for dialogue and service of reconciliation,” said the President of SSSCBC, His Eminence Stephen Cardinal Ameyu Mulla, on August 20, as the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SSCBC) launched what they called the 2026–2028 Strategic Plan aimed at addressing the multi-pronged crises in the two countries.

The three-year framework is designed to strengthen the Church’s pastoral and institutional work, expand humanitarian services, promote peace and reconciliation, and deepen its engagement in governance and public policy.

“Today we gather here not merely to launch another document. We gather to consecrate a renewed commitment to our sacred calling,” said the Secretary General of the Conference, Rev. Fr. Martin Ochaya Lino, as he sought to establish the plan’s context within the countries’ many crises.

He said the strategy will be underpinned by human dignity, justice, peace, solidarity, care for creation, and the common good.

Cardinal Ameyu said it wasn’t just “an administrative document”, but a common framework by which the Church wants to confront the common problems facing its members and society at large.

“It is a shared vision and a common commitment to respond faithfully and effectively to the reality facing our people and our Church,” Cardinal Ameyu said.

The Church in Sudan and South Sudan has consistently rejected violence as a means of problem-solving, especially as it is always the ordinary people who bear the brunt of violence.

“Regardless of the causes, it is always ordinary men, women, and children who bear the greatest burden,” said Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, the Catholic bishop of Tombura-Yambio.

“Families are torn apart, communities are weakened, and the hope of a peaceful future becomes more fragile,” he told CWR.

“Violence has never provided lasting solutions. It may silence voices temporarily, but it cannot heal wounds, restore trust, or build a future worthy of human dignity,” he said.

“Lasting peace can only be achieved through truth, justice, dialogue, reconciliation, and mutual respect. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict; it is the presence of justice, compassion, and a genuine commitment to the common good,” the South Sudanese Bishop explained.

The new strategic plan directs the Catholic Church to sustain its outreach to political and community leaders, partner with other religious groups, accompany displaced persons, and support reconciliation initiatives

“We remain committed to walking together in the search for truth, justice, reconciliation, and lasting peace,” Bishop Hiiboro told CWR.

“Our shared mission calls us to be builders of bridges where others erect walls, to foster dialogue where there is division, and to proclaim hope where despair threatens to prevail.”

Cardinal Ameyu said humanitarian interventions must go beyond just offering assistance to people in need; they must also address the root causes of why people are forced to flee from their homes.

He underscored the need to form priests, religious, catechists, and lay Catholics to strengthen their participation in peacebuilding, reconciliation, and development.

He thanked the Church’s partners in the mission to offer humanitarian relief to people in crisis.

“Partnership is not merely financial support. It is an accompaniment, mutual respect, shared responsibility, and a common commitment to the Gospel,” he said.