Cardinal urges restraint as retaliatory attacks ignite after killings of South Sudanese refugees

(OSV News) -- Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba, South Sudan, called for restraint and compassion, as the alleged killings of South Sudanese refugees in the war-torn Sudan sparked retaliatory attacks across the country.

Local reports said that 16 Sudanese people were killed in South Sudan and scores were injured as security forces battled machete and club-wielding youth. The youth beat up Sudanese nationals on the streets of towns and cities, raided their homes and looted their businesses.

The violence ignited after the emergence of a video showing Sudan Armed Forces soldiers allegedly killing South Sudanese civilians in Wad Madani city, the capital of Gezira State in central Sudan. According to reports, at least 29 South Sudanese civilians were killed during the battle to capture the city from the Rapid Support Forces, with the BBC reporting the killing took place on an ethnic basis, and children were among those killed.

"In light of these atrocities, we appeal to our beloved South Sudanese people to exercise restraint and compassion," said the cardinal in a Jan. 17 press release. "While the pain and anger stemming from these events are understandable, we implore you to refrain from seeking revenge against refugees here in our nation."

Cardinal Ameyu, president of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic bishops' conference, spoke as the government imposed a night curfew across the country to reign in the spreading violence.

"The cold-blooded murder of innocent South Sudanese citizens is a heinous act that we as a united Church and compassionate society, must unreservedly condemn. Such violence, rooted in hatred and oppression, has no place among us," said Cardinal Ameyu, in the statement in which he also expressed solidarity with the grieving families.

Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly war since April 15, 2023, when a power struggle between Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of Sudan Armed Forces, and Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known as "Hemedti," the commander of Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, descended into a full-scale war.

For 20 months, soldiers loyal to al-Burhan and Dagalo have fought for the control of territories in the northeast African nation.

According to reports, selective attacks on black African or dark-skinned people are occurring in the war, especially in Darfur and Gezira states.

The latest attacks by the Sudanese army are rekindling memories of persecution of black African Christians, before South Sudan -- the world's youngest nation -- split from the Islamic and mainly Arab north. South Sudan became an independent state on July 9, 2011. Until the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005 and which ended the 21-year civil war, allowing the South Sudanese to determine their destiny in a referendum, slavery against black Africans was occurring.

The cardinal-archbishop of Juba's statement included the reminder that the driving force behind the acts of violence were oppressive regimes and systems that dehumanize individuals for their ethnicity, belief and political affiliations.

"We are proud of the spirit of unity and resilience that characterize our South Sudanese community. Together, we must work towards healing and rebuilding, fostering an environment where every individual can feel safe and valued, regardless of their origin," said the cardinal.

On Jan. 16, the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on army chief al-Burhan for "Destabilizing Sudan and Undermining the Goal of Democratic Transition," according to Executive Order 14098, one of the last under Biden.

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the army under al-Burhan committed lethal attacks on civilians, including airstrikes against protected infrastructure, including schools, markets and hospitals. The U.S. accused the Sudanese army of "routine and intentional denial of humanitarian access, using food deprivation as a war tactic."

Al-Burhan's sanctions follow those of Dagalo, the RSF leader, on Jan. 7, for engaging in serious human rights abuses, including wide spread sexual violence and executing defenseless civilians and unarmed fighters -- "systematic atrocities committed against the Sudanese people."

Amid what a Catholic charity called "unimaginable" suffering of civilians trapped in civil war brutality in Sudan, the U.S. declared earlier in January that RSF is committing genocide in the country.

Since the start of the war, in April 2023, the fighting has left over 638,000 people facing famine, millions in need of humanitarian assistance and 24,000 dead.