Archbishop arrives in Sudan with message of peace

-26/02/06

Rowan Williams has appealed


Archbishop arrives in Sudan with message of peace

-26/02/06

Rowan Williams has appealed for religious tolerance upon his arrival in Sudan at the start of a week-long visit in the run up to Lent.

“So many of these conflicts are about who is to be king,” the Archbishop of Canterbury told a crowd of more than a thousand Sudanese Christians in Khartoum, where Islamic sharia law is in force.

“Together as groups, as tribes … as religions, we know that God alone is king and we can therefore be at peace with each other,” he said.

Sudan emerged a year ago from two decades of conflict between the Muslim north and Christian rebels in the south with the signing of a peace agreement.

Dr Williams hopes to encourage all agencies to “strengthen peace” there during his visit.

His first stop was a shanty town Al-Gariya, in capital Khartoum, whose inhabitants have been displaced by war.

After his Al-Gariya visit, thousand of Khartoum’s Christians joined the archbishop for a service of welcome.

Most of his trip will be spent in the south, home to an estimated three million Anglicans.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey visited the Sudan three times.

Southern Sudan is one of the poorest areas on earth with little access to clean water, electricity, only a few kilometres of Tarmac roads and the lowest rate of school enrolment in the world.

Dr Williams said he looked forward to visiting the Sudanese people “at this crucial time in their country’s history” and, in particular, supporting the work of the World Food programme in the country.

“I am anxious to see governments, UN agencies and faith-based organisations working together to strengthen all the moves for peace in a land that has known far too much of war,” he added.

Dr Williams, who was invited by the Anglican Archbishop of Sudan, Dr Joseph Marona, will also consecrate a new cathedral in Renk and plans to visit a rural school in an area recently attacked by militia.

The Archbishop’s other plans for the visit include holding a service in new southern capital Juba and taking part in food distribution projects in Malakal, capital of the Upper Nile region.


Archbishop arrives in Sudan with message of peace

-26/02/06

Rowan Williams has appealed for religious tolerance upon his arrival in Sudan at the start of a week-long visit in the run up to Lent.

“So many of these conflicts are about who is to be king,” the Archbishop of Canterbury told a crowd of more than a thousand Sudanese Christians in Khartoum, where Islamic sharia law is in force.

“Together as groups, as tribes … as religions, we know that God alone is king and we can therefore be at peace with each other,” he said.

Sudan emerged a year ago from two decades of conflict between the Muslim north and Christian rebels in the south with the signing of a peace agreement.

Dr Williams hopes to encourage all agencies to “strengthen peace” there during his visit.

His first stop was a shanty town Al-Gariya, in capital Khartoum, whose inhabitants have been displaced by war.

After his Al-Gariya visit, thousand of Khartoum’s Christians joined the archbishop for a service of welcome.

Most of his trip will be spent in the south, home to an estimated three million Anglicans.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey visited the Sudan three times.

Southern Sudan is one of the poorest areas on earth with little access to clean water, electricity, only a few kilometres of Tarmac roads and the lowest rate of school enrolment in the world.

Dr Williams said he looked forward to visiting the Sudanese people “at this crucial time in their country’s history” and, in particular, supporting the work of the World Food programme in the country.

“I am anxious to see governments, UN agencies and faith-based organisations working together to strengthen all the moves for peace in a land that has known far too much of war,” he added.

Dr Williams, who was invited by the Anglican Archbishop of Sudan, Dr Joseph Marona, will also consecrate a new cathedral in Renk and plans to visit a rural school in an area recently attacked by militia.

The Archbishop’s other plans for the visit include holding a service in new southern capital Juba and taking part in food distribution projects in Malakal, capital of the Upper Nile region.