Australia’s South Sudanese Christian community are calling on the Australian Government to do more to address the growing needs of millions affected by the country’s civil war.

The United Nations has estimated that 3.7 million people are in need of food in South Sudan as a result of the conflict that has killed thousands and displaced almost 900,000.

Fighting broke out between the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups in December last year after a political dispute between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir (Dinka) and his former deputy Riek Machar (Nuer).

Anglican Bishop Stuart Robinson from the Canberra and Goulburn Diocese wrote to the Prime Minister last week, after he met with a group of South Sudanese Christians in O’Connor, ACT.

“It was an instructive and sobering conversation; many (if not most) have lost family and friends in the most recent conflagration in Southern Sudan”.

The Bishop outlined six concerns brought to him at the meeting, including the need for immediate intervention and basic assistance to those who have fled South Sudan and are living in refugee camps in Uganda and Kenya, and a request to the Australian Government to prioritise the processing of South Sudanese Humanitarian Visas. (To read the full letter, click here.)

In the Melbourne Anglican community, four South Sudanese elders are advising Anglican Overseas Aid on how to respond to the crisis. Rev. Daniel Kuol Amol of Dandeong, Abraham Jongroor (Melton), Rev. Daniel Bol Nyieth (North Melbourne) and David Lual Mabior (Ringwood) have said they’ve lost relatives and friends in the current conflict, and expect many others from their communities have too.

Abraham Jongroor, a community development worker in Melbourne and advisor for Anglican Overseas Aid, says he has escaped twice from violence in his homeland.

“The first time I escaped was more than 30 years ago. I had been fighting for South Sudan’s independence as part of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, but a serious injury meant I had to leave,” he wrote for Anglican Overseas Aid last month.

Abraham made his way to Australia as a refugee in 2002, and has become a proud Australian citizen. But in December last year, he took his 10-year-old son Kuol to South Sudan for the first time to meet his large extended family.

“It was to be a grand occasion, with my whole extended family together for the first time in 30 years,” wrote Abraham.

But Abraham and his son arrived in his hometown of Bor on December 15^th, on the same day Government factions started fighting in Juba.

He writes that a young man was killed 200 metres from his mother’s house, while two others were executed. They could hear frequent shooting, and relatives started urging them to leave.

“We grabbed anything we could carry and fled the town with thousands of others as army units started their rebellion, going on a rampage of violence and destruction.”

Abraham and his family fled on boats across the Nile and found themselves at a growing camp for displaced people. “Tens of thousands were waiting, exposed to harsh sun with only unclean drinking water from one of the Nile’s tributaries. It was heartbreaking seeing people suffering like that…”

After several days attempting to find a way home, Abraham and his son were flown to Kampala in Uganda on a RAF Hercules, being used to transfer British and other foreign nationals fleeing the turmoil. From Uganda, they found a flight home to Australia, 10 days after the fighting started.

“It was a terrible ordeal, but as Australian citizens, my son and I can return safely to our wonderful country. We left behind many who do not have this privilege.”

The population in Abraham’s hometown of Bor was 200,000. Now, human rights fact-finder Ivan Simonovic has called them ‘ghost towns’ in a BBC interview last month.

“Bor is empty… you can find citizens only in camps for displaced persons.”

The Act Alliance, made up of Australian aid agencies including Act For Peace, Anglican Overseas Aid, UnitingWorld, Anglican Board of Mission, Australian Lutheran World Service, and Christian World Service, are urging Australia’s foreign affairs politicians to act.

“Funds from Australian congregations and supporters are being used by our partners to meet the needs of those fleeing the conflict inside South Sudan as well as in neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya,” wrote Rob Floyd, Chair ACT Alliance Pacific, Australia and New Zealand Forum in a letter to politicians in January.

“The South Sudanese community in Australia are an integral part of many of our churches’ congregations. Families in Australia have lost loved ones in the violence, and some South Sudanese Australians who were in the country have also needed to flee or be evacuated to safety.

“We echo the South Sudanese community’s calls for Australia, as part of the international community, to take an active role in supporting a halt to hostilities, and to provide accredited Australian aid agencies with the resources they require to support the relief and rehabilitation needs of the displaced people of South Sudan.”

Here are the current Australian appeals for South Sudan, part of the ACT Alliance:

• Act For Peace
• Anglican Overseas Aid
• Uniting World
• Anglican Board of Mission
• Australian Lutheran World Service

Images courtesy of Anglican Overseas Aid.