Fwd: [sudans-john-ashworth] Independence Day 'Message of Caution'
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Elisabeth Janaina
Jul 10, 2017, 8:24:50 AM7/10/17
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From: "John Ashworth" <ashwor...@gmail.com>
Date: 10 Jul 2017 07:36
Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] Independence Day 'Message of Caution'
To: "Group" <sudans-joh...@googlegroups.com>
Cc:
Hope for Peace!
Message of Caution on the 06th Years South Sudan Independence July 9th 2017
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of
Tombura-Yambio & President of Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference
Ref. NO MONEY! NO PEACE! NO CELEBRATION OF SOUTH SUDAN 06TH INDEPENDENCE DAY
This fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, in our Catholic Liturgical
Calendar coincides with the sixth years of independence of the
Republic of South Sudan. How do I speak or talk and which message can
come forth from my mouth?
For me a tension continues. I must confess that any time the life of
prayer, worship and Scripture are aligned too closely with national
desire I get nervous. I find that performances of the flag of the
Republic of South Sudan shown about especially troublesome. Such
approaches too often cross the line into nationalism, an idolatry that
blurs the distinction of the sovereignty of God and national purpose
as if one is equal to the other. Deuteronomy 10:20 appointed for today
says, “…him alone shall you worship.”
Indeed, six years after liberation, South Sudan’s humanitarian crisis
is worse than ever, with grave violations of human rights and a
lingering brutal civil war. South Sudan’s 2011 independence was won
when more than 98% of its people voted to break away from Sudan. This
followed two periods of prolonged armed struggle that began in the
mid-1950s and ultimately killed about 2.5 million and displaced over 4
million.
Please do not misunderstand. I am a patriot and am grateful that I am
a citizen of the Republic of South Sudan. There is a proper place for
grateful hearts for the sacrifices made to secure our land from
tyranny and oppression. When at our best, we have been an example of
liberation from enslavement.
I deeply love being born a South Sudanese, and I give thanks to God
for giving me birth in this beautiful place. I proudly see South Sudan
grow clocking the age of Six Years since her birth on July 9th 2011.
After visiting many places around the world I still conserve my love
for this country, I don’t know how and why. The only answer I can give
is that God meant me to be a South Sudanese and that I am one in every
drop of blood in my veins.
As we stand on the threshold of the 6th Independence Day right inside
deep abase of civil wars, I am intensifying my prayers for my beloved
Mother South Sudan. As I also get older and South Sudan though young
yet again in senseless war, I keep asking: are we drifting completely
away from the path, the dreams, the hopes and desires for this beloved
nation of ours?
My first thoughts on Independence Day go to South Sudan’s Freedom
Movement, Anya-nya One, Sudan Liberation Arms (SPLA). Those heroes and
martyrs of 1820-2005 and others, like the King Gbudue, William Deng,
Clement Mboro, John Garang, etc., fill me with a sense of pride
because my Christian faith also talks about the misery of
“enslavement.” The first books of the Bible tell us how God wanted the
enslaved people of Israel to be freed. Freedom is God’s first gift to
them.
South Sudan’s independence helped me understand the message of God -
freedom from sin, freedom from Satan, freedom from a life estranged
from God.
Now I cannot believe – No Money, No Peace and No Celebration of the
6th years Independence of South Sudan Independence??? My Mother South
Sudan is wounded by all these ailments. I am sad, but not without
hope.
I want to keep on working for unity of my country. I want to spend my
life for lasting peace, peace which has been robbed by some. There are
many, many like me, of all religions, who have not given up hope.
I believe that the present state of the country is only a passing
phase. The sooner her sons and daughters realize the urgency to stand
by the perennial values of our Mother South Sudan, the quicker South
Sudan will once again remain faithful to her original divine vocation.
Freedom is God’s gift. Peace is God’s gift. God’s gifts are meant for
His children. Independence is not a once-and-for-all achievement, but
it is forged daily, achieved daily. Independence is not an external
reality, but an inner force which comes only from above.
My prayer: Let us Lord, each South Sudan, build her/himself from
within. Teach us that building a beautiful, strong and stable South
Sudan is not to start from external reality, but to start from within.
Does this sound idealistic, Lord? But you have already taught us and
continue to teach us where to begin. I want to be the first one to do
that, Lord.
I deeply love being born a South Sudanese, and I give thanks to God
for giving me birth in this beautiful place. Seeing South Sudan
growing up and discovering herself she makes to maturity of stability
and peace.
After visiting many places around the world I still conserve my love
for this country, I don’t know how and why. The only answer I can give
is that God meant me to be South Sudanese and that I am one in every
drop of blood in my veins.
Yet we also need to hear faithful and prophetic critique when what we
do as a nation is in conflict with the Gospel, and be willing to
confess our sin when we are the source of oppression. As disciples of
Christ and yet citizens of a nation, what does loving our enemies
(Matthew 5:44) and loving the stranger in our midst (Deuteronomy
10:19) look like in national policy? These are not small questions.
My messages of peace, courage and confidence for National Day such as
this is that South Sudan Independence, as we painfully now see it for
the third time not being celebrated nationwide, hence, it is the
beginning of a quest for an ever-changing understanding of freedom.
Our early national struggles for political autonomy soon have led to
the continuing struggle for economic freedom! As a matter of fact,
freedom today includes human rights, minority rights, refugee rights
and workers´ rights. Thus dialogue must be undertaken, as Jesus did
and taught, across our cultures as well as within our respective
cultures.
The 6th Independent Celebration of our nation can be strongly honored
and made to bear lasting fruits must include the below areas among
other:
1- Comprehensive ceasefire: The country is loaded with violence
and war by all the fighting forces or people holding arms. All of them
must for the love of this beautiful nation South Sudan lay down their
weapons of wars. This must be followed by an inclusive all entities in
struggle in sort of roundtable peace negotiation.
2- The National Dialogue: The national dialogue launched by the
president has to be in all forms an inclusive networking for peace in
the country. This must be support by all means and it should remain
neutral for the sake of truth. At this juncture since the National
Dialogue has been launched, relative in some parts of the country is
being lived and harmony is developing, let us all resolve to rally
round together, shedding all differences to achieve advancement in the
economy, sustainable peace culture and the reconciled life of the
community.
3- Declaration of National Bankruptcy in South Sudan is
necessary: It will be a courageous stand by the government at this
most crucial time to declare that there is no money in South Sudan.
Such declaration done with love and determination will generate quick
fix plus gradual reform to building the economy of South Sudan. I
know that it cannot be absolute that a nation such as South Sudan is
without money. Surely, sovereigns will always have the ability to meet
debt obligations. Simple because our assets should always exceed our
liabilities, which surely must be the technical reason for bankruptcy.
But I feel strongly that where we are now as nation, with no greater
reservation it has become very necessary, for South Sudan to declare
itself bankrupt. It must in principle still be possible for South
Sudan to go bankrupt.
First foremost, to justify my claim, my calculation is simple; it is
important to understand how public (government) debts work. When a
country can no longer pay the interest on its debt or convince anyone
to lend it money, it has reached bankruptcy. The most obvious cause of
this spotted state of bankruptcy of our beloved South Sudan includes
civil war or financial mismanagement by the government!
Secondly, another biting sign of bankruptcy is that there is massive
inflation for consumers and businesses. Stock prices have plummet,
along with the value of our nation’s currency. As the value of money
falls, bank runs may result as terrified citizens rush to withdraw
cash from their accounts. Last week in Yambio the only Kenya foreign
bank we had closed down, the manager told me that one of the reasons
why they have closed services in Yambio is that when the citizens
withdraw their money from the bank, they never bring any more money
back into that in return.
Thirdly, area suggesting winning cases for bankruptcy is that there is
high rate of social and political unrest. No services being provided
including descent salaries to the working classes, etc.
But! But! But! There is hope and there is way out of this! To avert
bankruptcy or to cope with its effects, our insolvent government has
to take courage to look abroad for a bailout. Some countries have done
it in past and have survived! Nations in recent memory includes
Ukraine, Argentina and Greece. In fact when the Greece economy crashed
in 2009, they went to the IMF, the European Central Bank and the
European Commission, who collectively, issued the first of two
international bailouts for Greece.
4- Praying continually for Peace: Beloved people of South Sudan
we must pray hard for peace! to inspire the hearts of people with love
and trust for each other, irrespective of the ethnicities or community
they belong to, thus making life in South Sudan more meaningful and
joyful. In plan B we have to go FARMING – this is indeed sustainable!
It is important for people to learn from their respective faith or
social backgrounds how to live in this new nation, South Sudan as
peaceful human beings and not to create difficulties for our fellow
human beings. It is also equally important, to learn how to resolve
differences of opinion and arrive amicably at solutions which would
satisfy the cross-sections of people living in our country.
The gift of the Christian faith, deeply rooted in our national
identity, is a most powerful force to achieve change and
transformation of every individual and every people. We should not
forget on this national day that values such as respect for human life
from conception to natural death, respect for the family, the
foundations of society, Family and Life, justice and respect for the
rights of the weaker citizens, honesty and protection of creation must
be upheld by every individual South Sudanese and for the authorities.
Let us continue to pray for South Sudan for stable peace, Amen!
God bless you and God bless South Sudan!
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio &
President of Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro KUSSALA
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio
"We have come from Far, We are still Far and we are going very Far"
Tel. +211916689897 or +211955966955-
END
______________________
John Ashworth
ashwor...@gmail.com
+254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile)
+211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile)
+44 787 976 8030 (UK mobile)
+88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone)
Skype: jashworth1
PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya
This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily
reflect the views of any organisation
--
--
The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group.
To post to this group, send email to sudan-john-ashworth@googlegroups.com
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From: "John Ashworth" <ashwor...@gmail.com>
Date: 10 Jul 2017 07:36
Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] Independence Day 'Message of Caution'
To: "Group" <sudans-joh...@googlegroups.com>
Cc:
Hope for Peace!
Message of Caution on the 06th Years South Sudan Independence July 9th 2017
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of
Tombura-Yambio & President of Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference
Ref. NO MONEY! NO PEACE! NO CELEBRATION OF SOUTH SUDAN 06TH INDEPENDENCE DAY
This fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, in our Catholic Liturgical
Calendar coincides with the sixth years of independence of the
Republic of South Sudan. How do I speak or talk and which message can
come forth from my mouth?
For me a tension continues. I must confess that any time the life of
prayer, worship and Scripture are aligned too closely with national
desire I get nervous. I find that performances of the flag of the
Republic of South Sudan shown about especially troublesome. Such
approaches too often cross the line into nationalism, an idolatry that
blurs the distinction of the sovereignty of God and national purpose
as if one is equal to the other. Deuteronomy 10:20 appointed for today
says, “…him alone shall you worship.”
Indeed, six years after liberation, South Sudan’s humanitarian crisis
is worse than ever, with grave violations of human rights and a
lingering brutal civil war. South Sudan’s 2011 independence was won
when more than 98% of its people voted to break away from Sudan. This
followed two periods of prolonged armed struggle that began in the
mid-1950s and ultimately killed about 2.5 million and displaced over 4
million.
Please do not misunderstand. I am a patriot and am grateful that I am
a citizen of the Republic of South Sudan. There is a proper place for
grateful hearts for the sacrifices made to secure our land from
tyranny and oppression. When at our best, we have been an example of
liberation from enslavement.
I deeply love being born a South Sudanese, and I give thanks to God
for giving me birth in this beautiful place. I proudly see South Sudan
grow clocking the age of Six Years since her birth on July 9th 2011.
After visiting many places around the world I still conserve my love
for this country, I don’t know how and why. The only answer I can give
is that God meant me to be a South Sudanese and that I am one in every
drop of blood in my veins.
As we stand on the threshold of the 6th Independence Day right inside
deep abase of civil wars, I am intensifying my prayers for my beloved
Mother South Sudan. As I also get older and South Sudan though young
yet again in senseless war, I keep asking: are we drifting completely
away from the path, the dreams, the hopes and desires for this beloved
nation of ours?
My first thoughts on Independence Day go to South Sudan’s Freedom
Movement, Anya-nya One, Sudan Liberation Arms (SPLA). Those heroes and
martyrs of 1820-2005 and others, like the King Gbudue, William Deng,
Clement Mboro, John Garang, etc., fill me with a sense of pride
because my Christian faith also talks about the misery of
“enslavement.” The first books of the Bible tell us how God wanted the
enslaved people of Israel to be freed. Freedom is God’s first gift to
them.
South Sudan’s independence helped me understand the message of God -
freedom from sin, freedom from Satan, freedom from a life estranged
from God.
Now I cannot believe – No Money, No Peace and No Celebration of the
6th years Independence of South Sudan Independence??? My Mother South
Sudan is wounded by all these ailments. I am sad, but not without
hope.
I want to keep on working for unity of my country. I want to spend my
life for lasting peace, peace which has been robbed by some. There are
many, many like me, of all religions, who have not given up hope.
I believe that the present state of the country is only a passing
phase. The sooner her sons and daughters realize the urgency to stand
by the perennial values of our Mother South Sudan, the quicker South
Sudan will once again remain faithful to her original divine vocation.
Freedom is God’s gift. Peace is God’s gift. God’s gifts are meant for
His children. Independence is not a once-and-for-all achievement, but
it is forged daily, achieved daily. Independence is not an external
reality, but an inner force which comes only from above.
My prayer: Let us Lord, each South Sudan, build her/himself from
within. Teach us that building a beautiful, strong and stable South
Sudan is not to start from external reality, but to start from within.
Does this sound idealistic, Lord? But you have already taught us and
continue to teach us where to begin. I want to be the first one to do
that, Lord.
I deeply love being born a South Sudanese, and I give thanks to God
for giving me birth in this beautiful place. Seeing South Sudan
growing up and discovering herself she makes to maturity of stability
and peace.
After visiting many places around the world I still conserve my love
for this country, I don’t know how and why. The only answer I can give
is that God meant me to be South Sudanese and that I am one in every
drop of blood in my veins.
Yet we also need to hear faithful and prophetic critique when what we
do as a nation is in conflict with the Gospel, and be willing to
confess our sin when we are the source of oppression. As disciples of
Christ and yet citizens of a nation, what does loving our enemies
(Matthew 5:44) and loving the stranger in our midst (Deuteronomy
10:19) look like in national policy? These are not small questions.
My messages of peace, courage and confidence for National Day such as
this is that South Sudan Independence, as we painfully now see it for
the third time not being celebrated nationwide, hence, it is the
beginning of a quest for an ever-changing understanding of freedom.
Our early national struggles for political autonomy soon have led to
the continuing struggle for economic freedom! As a matter of fact,
freedom today includes human rights, minority rights, refugee rights
and workers´ rights. Thus dialogue must be undertaken, as Jesus did
and taught, across our cultures as well as within our respective
cultures.
The 6th Independent Celebration of our nation can be strongly honored
and made to bear lasting fruits must include the below areas among
other:
1- Comprehensive ceasefire: The country is loaded with violence
and war by all the fighting forces or people holding arms. All of them
must for the love of this beautiful nation South Sudan lay down their
weapons of wars. This must be followed by an inclusive all entities in
struggle in sort of roundtable peace negotiation.
2- The National Dialogue: The national dialogue launched by the
president has to be in all forms an inclusive networking for peace in
the country. This must be support by all means and it should remain
neutral for the sake of truth. At this juncture since the National
Dialogue has been launched, relative in some parts of the country is
being lived and harmony is developing, let us all resolve to rally
round together, shedding all differences to achieve advancement in the
economy, sustainable peace culture and the reconciled life of the
community.
3- Declaration of National Bankruptcy in South Sudan is
necessary: It will be a courageous stand by the government at this
most crucial time to declare that there is no money in South Sudan.
Such declaration done with love and determination will generate quick
fix plus gradual reform to building the economy of South Sudan. I
know that it cannot be absolute that a nation such as South Sudan is
without money. Surely, sovereigns will always have the ability to meet
debt obligations. Simple because our assets should always exceed our
liabilities, which surely must be the technical reason for bankruptcy.
But I feel strongly that where we are now as nation, with no greater
reservation it has become very necessary, for South Sudan to declare
itself bankrupt. It must in principle still be possible for South
Sudan to go bankrupt.
First foremost, to justify my claim, my calculation is simple; it is
important to understand how public (government) debts work. When a
country can no longer pay the interest on its debt or convince anyone
to lend it money, it has reached bankruptcy. The most obvious cause of
this spotted state of bankruptcy of our beloved South Sudan includes
civil war or financial mismanagement by the government!
Secondly, another biting sign of bankruptcy is that there is massive
inflation for consumers and businesses. Stock prices have plummet,
along with the value of our nation’s currency. As the value of money
falls, bank runs may result as terrified citizens rush to withdraw
cash from their accounts. Last week in Yambio the only Kenya foreign
bank we had closed down, the manager told me that one of the reasons
why they have closed services in Yambio is that when the citizens
withdraw their money from the bank, they never bring any more money
back into that in return.
Thirdly, area suggesting winning cases for bankruptcy is that there is
high rate of social and political unrest. No services being provided
including descent salaries to the working classes, etc.
But! But! But! There is hope and there is way out of this! To avert
bankruptcy or to cope with its effects, our insolvent government has
to take courage to look abroad for a bailout. Some countries have done
it in past and have survived! Nations in recent memory includes
Ukraine, Argentina and Greece. In fact when the Greece economy crashed
in 2009, they went to the IMF, the European Central Bank and the
European Commission, who collectively, issued the first of two
international bailouts for Greece.
4- Praying continually for Peace: Beloved people of South Sudan
we must pray hard for peace! to inspire the hearts of people with love
and trust for each other, irrespective of the ethnicities or community
they belong to, thus making life in South Sudan more meaningful and
joyful. In plan B we have to go FARMING – this is indeed sustainable!
It is important for people to learn from their respective faith or
social backgrounds how to live in this new nation, South Sudan as
peaceful human beings and not to create difficulties for our fellow
human beings. It is also equally important, to learn how to resolve
differences of opinion and arrive amicably at solutions which would
satisfy the cross-sections of people living in our country.
The gift of the Christian faith, deeply rooted in our national
identity, is a most powerful force to achieve change and
transformation of every individual and every people. We should not
forget on this national day that values such as respect for human life
from conception to natural death, respect for the family, the
foundations of society, Family and Life, justice and respect for the
rights of the weaker citizens, honesty and protection of creation must
be upheld by every individual South Sudanese and for the authorities.
Let us continue to pray for South Sudan for stable peace, Amen!
God bless you and God bless South Sudan!
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio &
President of Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro KUSSALA
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio
"We have come from Far, We are still Far and we are going very Far"
Tel. +211916689897 or +211955966955-
END
______________________
John Ashworth
ashwor...@gmail.com
+254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile)
+211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile)
+44 787 976 8030 (UK mobile)
+88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone)
Skype: jashworth1
PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya
This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily
reflect the views of any organisation
--
--
The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group.
To post to this group, send email to sudan-john-ashworth@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sudan-john-ashworth-unsub...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudans-john-ashworth" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sudans-john-ashworth+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/sudans-john-ashworth.
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