Office For Global Concerns

The following article was written by Maryknoll Fr. Doug May, who, from 1999-2007, was the only U.S.-born priest assigned in Egypt.

I lived and worked with Egyptians, both Christians and Muslims, both working and upper class. However, for about six to 12 hours per week, I catered to three Catholic communities of people from over 20 countries who spoke English as a first, second or third language. They were embassy, multi-national, university and NGO employees and dependants. From both exposure and experience, I learned a great deal about Egypt from various perspectives. Even though I am currently assigned to Kenya, I still manage to spend time in Egypt twice a year to visit “family” and friends there.

On May 24, 2010 President Obama signed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament (LRA) and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 “to support stabilization and lasting peace in northern Uganda and areas affected by the [LRA].” As required by the law, in November 2010 the administration issued a strategic plan for its implementation.

As the world was celebrating the achievement of a peaceful and well-run referendum that declared the independence of South Sudan, religious leaders in areas vulnerable to the LRA called again for international efforts to bring the LRA back to the negotiating table.

Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the diocese of Tombura-Yambio, South Sudan, wrote in an open letter: “The situation of the LRA has not improved since before, during and after the referendum. [In January,] we lost a religious nun into the hands of LRA in northern Congo [and] from 22nd to 25th December over 17 people [were] … abducted in Maridi and Ibba counties, as well as around Yambio county … with nine dead and seven wounded in the same counties. From 13th to 18th January to 7th February there [have]… been sporadic appearance[s] and killings, abduction[s], wounding and displacement of the people in Western Equatoria [Sudan] by the LRA. Our worries continue to increase as the rain season is getting closer and people are preparing to cultivate their fields this year. …

“After a long history of suffering, finally the people of South Sudan are in the process of achieving their self-determination … We hope, as we have opted for independence, that we will … choose democracy over repression, embrace diversity over division, defend human rights and justice over abuses, empower transparency and accountability over corruption and nepotism, and promote equality between men and women over discrimination. Above all choose peace over war.

When the results of the recent referendum in South Sudan were officially made public (98.83 percent voted for secession), John Ashworth, a well known and highly respected Sudan analyst, in explaining the somewhat muted reception of the news, wrote, “Perhaps yesterday’s official announcement of the results was a bit of an anti-climax, as it has been clear for weeks that the result was overwhelmingly for secession. Perhaps also people have already digested the joyful reality of secession and are now beginning to come to terms with some of the immediate challenges of nation-building, including the constitutional review, making the government more inclusive, good governance in general, and the outstanding issues remaining to be negotiated with the north (Abyei, oil, borders, citizenship, national debt, etc). Practical problems such as the influx of returnees, the dire position of southerners in the north, and the fighting that broke out in Upper Nile when [Sudanese Armed Forces] units were ordered to relocate to the north might also be on people’s minds.”