Catholic bishops in Sudan and South Sudan have expressed distress at the brutal killing of nearly 178 people in northern South Sudan on March 2. Source: OSV News.
Local officials say unidentified armed youths – allegedly linked to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition – carried out the assault in the Ruweng Administrative Area. Authorities report at least 90 civilians, including women, children and the elderly, were killed, along with 79 soldiers.
Many survivors fled to a nearby United Nations peacekeeping base for safety.
The attack marked the latest round of violence that has left the world’s youngest nation on the edge of full-scale war.
Bentiu Bishop Christian Carlassare said the guns were heard at the Parish of Mary Help of Christians in his diocese.
“Our land is being wounded by conflict. We do not need to experience more conflicts. Conflict only brings destruction, fear and deeper suffering,” the bishop said.
“We do not yet know who is responsible for this criminal act, but whoever is involved, we appeal to every heart: Choose dialogue, not violence. Choose the courage of peace over the illusion of power,” he said.
“Let us protect the little we have left and refuse to allow hatred to take more from our people,” added the bishop, while calling on the authorities and the government to take their responsibility seriously and to provide security for the population.
“Our people deserve protection, stability and the possibility to live without fear,” Bishop Carlassare said while recalling Pope Leo XIV’s message for World Day of Peace, in which he invited humanity to begin a “disarmament of heart, mind and life”.
“Our land has already been consumed by too much violence. Many families are displaced. Many are grieving. We cannot add more suffering to those who are already carrying heavy burdens.”
On March 2, bishops under the Sudan and South Sudan bishops’ conference condemned the latest killings as a fresh descent into the abyss of human depravity, where the sanctity of life is trampled upon with alarming impunity.
“We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, these heinous and senseless killings. There can be no justification whatsoever for the murder of civilians,” said the statement signed by 10 bishops, including Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba, who is president of the Sudan and South Sudan bishops’ conference.
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Sudanese bishops express distress at the massacre of 178 people in northern South Sudan (By Fredrick Nzwili, OSV News)
