Church groups urge action on "three key issues"

Delegates at last week's Sudan Ecumenical Forum in the UK capital, London, warned on Thursday that any peace settlement in Sudan "must be just and lasting and not a quick-fix solution".

Delegates called for pressure on the government of Sudan to put an end to bombings and other attacks on civilians, a suspension of oil production, and recognition of the right to self-determination of the southern Sudanese and other marginalised people in Sudan, according to the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD).

"There are currently the conditions to achieve a peace deal in Sudan and no reason why we should not try," Clare Short, British Secretary of State for International Development, told delegates. "It is fantastically important that we try to end this war," CAFOD quoted her as saying.

The conference, from 4 to 6 March, brought together religious leaders from Sudan and their worldwide church partners in an effort to promote dialogue and "find solutions to the problems that lie at the heart of Sudan's conflict", according to Christian Aid, CAFOD and Tearfund, co-sponsors of the event.

The forum was an effort to ensure that the voice of southern Sudanese civil society is heard more clearly, according to the three charities. "Any peace agreement that is reached without taking into account the views of the ordinary people will not be sustainable," said Rob Rees, CAFOD programme officer for Sudan.

Attacks on civilians, oil production and self-determination were the "three key issues" raised at the meeting, with delegates making it clear that the UK Government and international partners must address these if a just and lasting peace were to be achieved, Christian Aid reported.

Firstly, it said, the churches of southern Sudan had systematically documented bomb attacks on civilians by the government of Sudan since 1999, and recent reports had revealed an increase in attacks on civilians using helicopter gunships.

Delegates had also confirmed the Sudanese churches' position that "oil exploration must be suspended until there is a just and sustainable peace and agreement has been reached for the equitable sharing of resources," the nongovernmental organisation stated. Research, particularly in the last two years, had shown that the oil business had aggravated the suffering of civilians, especially in oil-producing areas, it said.

Thirdly, the Sudanese church delegates called on all their political leaders "to ensure that any peace settlement includes the rights of the southern Sudanese and other marginalised people to determine for themselves how they should be governed", according to Christian Aid.

Delegates at the London forum also reaffirmed the churches' position that slavery and abduction were the result of the ongoing Sudanese conflict, and must therefore be ended through a political settlement, CAFOD reported.