THE Bishop of Maridi, South Sudan, the Rt Revd Justin Badi, has no doubt about the cause of the "hopeless and shameful" situation in which his countrymen find themselves.
"All the bad things are the products of the devil, whose aim is always to divide, destroy, and uplift self-will," he says.
Reading the accounts of the horror that stalks Unity state, it is hard not to conclude that something hellish has taken hold. Fighting flared up in the state in April when government forces (the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, SPLA), aided by militias, attacked villages from three fronts.
Among the Bishops, who lived through the 22-year civil war with the North, in which two million people died, there is little surprise at the turn of events.
"Not only were the South Sudanese traumatised and highly militarised: there was poor leadership and bad governance," the Bishop of Wau, the Rt Revd Moses Deng, says. He was himself detained and tortured during the last war. "So many South Sudanese knew that the country was heading in a wrong direction, but they did not know what to do."
"Many South Sudanese were born during the war, even our grandfathers," the Bishop of Renk, the Rt Revd Joseph Garang Atem, says "and though they may be traumatised, I also think that a lack of patriotism in the hearts of some South Sudanese is really the problem."
THE Bishop of Maridi, South Sudan, the Rt Revd Justin Badi, has no doubt about the cause of the "hopeless and shameful" situation in which his countrymen find themselves.
"All the bad things are the products of the devil, whose aim is always to divide, destroy, and uplift self-will," he says.
Reading the accounts of the horror that stalks Unity state, it is hard not to conclude that something hellish has taken hold. Fighting flared up in the state in April when government forces (the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, SPLA), aided by militias, attacked villages from three fronts.
Among the Bishops, who lived through the 22-year civil war with the North, in which two million people died, there is little surprise at the turn of events.
"Not only were the South Sudanese traumatised and highly militarised: there was poor leadership and bad governance," the Bishop of Wau, the Rt Revd Moses Deng, says. He was himself detained and tortured during the last war. "So many South Sudanese knew that the country was heading in a wrong direction, but they did not know what to do."
"Many South Sudanese were born during the war, even our grandfathers," the Bishop of Renk, the Rt Revd Joseph Garang Atem, says "and though they may be traumatised, I also think that a lack of patriotism in the hearts of some South Sudanese is really the problem."
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