Pope Francis calls for peaceful dialogue in Sudan

In his weekly address to the Vatican, Pope Francis urged world leaders to look for ways to reach peace between the warring parties in Sudan on Sunday. The head of the Catholic Church called for the escalation of the war to stop, calling for all efforts to be directed to peaceful dialogue and negotiations. 

In a sermon from St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, the Pope called for prayers for Sudan and said that the time has come for a peaceful solution. He also appealed to world leaders and Sudanese authorities to help the Sudanese people, especially those displaced by the ongoing conflict. 

“I invite you to pray for Sudan, where the war that has lasted for more than a year has not yet found a peaceful solution. May the weapons be silenced, and, with the commitment of the local authorities and the international community, help be brought to the population and to the many people who have been displaced. May the Sudanese refugees find welcome and protection in neighbouring countries,” he said. 

This is the second appeal that Pope Francis has made to stop the war in Sudan since the beginning of this year. He made a similar appeal on February 18, calling on both sides of the war to stop fighting. At the time, he warned the warring Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that war will not solve any problems, but rather will bring death and destruction. 

In January, in their collective statement to mark the New Year, the bishops of the Catholic Church in Sudan and South Sudan called on the United Nations, Troika (USA, United Kingdom, and Norway), and other members of the international community to intensify their efforts to end the ongoing violence in Sudan. 

Early December, in a message to mark Christmas, Rafaat Mosad, the president of the Council of the Evangelical Community in Sudan, expressed his hope that it would be the last one in which Sudan would witness war and conflict.

The UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide briefed the Security Council on May 22 about the ongoing armed conflict between the RSF and SAF, warning that the situation “bears all the marks of risk of genocide, with strong allegations that this crime has already been committed.”

“If we are prevented from providing aid rapidly and at scale, more people will die,” said the principals of the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee in a joint statement on Friday. With the conflict now in its second year, 18 million people are acutely hungry, including 3.6 million children who are acutely malnourished, and famine is quickly closing in on millions of people in Darfur, Kordofan, El Gezira, and Khartoum, according to the statement.