An Anglican bishop from Sudan has appealed for continuing support from the world's churches, as the country's president announced the formation of a power-sharing government as part of a deal to end a decades-long civil war.
"Pray that we get in with the government, talk with the government, so they don't take things for granted," said Bishop Francis Loyo on September 21 at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva.
"As we continue pushing on with the peace, we see the Sudanese people are becoming mature," said Loyo of the southern Sudanese diocese of Rokon at a service to mark the WCC-inaugurated International Day of Prayer for Peace.
A representative of a Sudanese church grouping said earlier this year that the Sudanese churches felt sidelined in the implementation of the peace deal.
Loyo paid tribute to church bodies like the WCC for helping to bring peace to Sudan, where the predominantly Arab and Muslim north has been pitted against a rebel movement seeking autonomy for the south where Christianity and traditional religions are predominant.
An estimated two million people died during the conflict and more than four million were displaced before a peace deal was clinched in Nairobi in January, paving the way for the formation of a government of national unity announced by President Omar el-Bashir on September 20.
"All along the church has been working at the grassroots," said Loyo, calling on churches around the world to continue to support their counterparts in Sudan.
The peace agreement does not touch on a separate conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region.
