Pope Francis has urged world leaders to seek peace between Sudan’s warring parties, as humanitarian organisations say time is running out for millions of people in the African nation. Source: Vatican News.
“I invite everyone to pray for Sudan, where the war that has lasted over a year has yet to find a peaceful solution. May weapons be silenced,” Pope Francis said yesterday in his Angelus address in St Peter’s Square.
The Pope urged international leaders and Sudanese authorities to help Sudan and its many displaced people.
“May Sudanese refugees find welcome and protection in neighbouring countries,” he added.
Pope Francis also prayed for peace in “martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and Myanmar”.
“I appeal to the wisdom of leaders, so that escalation may cease and every effort may be spent in dialogue and negotiations,” he said.
As the Pope appealed for peace, time seems to be running out for millions of people in Sudan, who are at imminent risk of famine.
The country is embroiled in a second year of conflict between rival military factions and is home to the largest number of internally displaced people in the world.
Now, as the war drags on, humanitarian organisations have sent a stark warning, saying the warring parties are preventing aid from reaching the population.
This latest alarm comes after 19 international humanitarian groups, including 12 United Nations agencies, urged the warring parties to stop blocking food aid from reaching millions suffering from hunger.
In the latest indication of the scope of the problem, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said Sudan’s 18 million hungry people will die if the aid does not start to flow.
According to calculations made by the United Nations, almost 10 million people who have been displaced from their homes are refugees inside the country.
Sudan has been witnessing brutal armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces militia since April 15, 2023, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict.
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Pope renews prayers for peace in Sudan as millions risk famine (By Devin Watkins & Nathan Morley, Vatican News)
