My bleeding heart...

I’m sure you know from the last year that my heart hasn’t stopped bleeding. The deep wound in my heart is called South Sudan. I hate to see such things happening. I hate seeing my brothers and sisters being tortured, killed and displaced in their own land in just one year after the referendum and independence from Sudan.

Sadly, this confirms my pessimistic predictions from last year. The power of authority has become more sacred than people’s lives. The strength of selfishness is higher than the gift of sharing.

In my view, we, the international community, hold the blame, because we acted without thinking of the consequences. In the past we used to say: “united North to South, Muslim to Christian”. Now, what can we say? We should be in control. Logic and wisdom should rule, however it seems that bullets and knives are ruling.

We should urge local religious and community leaders to roll their sleeves up and stitch the deep wounds in the hearts of my people of South Sudan. It is time to stop the bloodshed and the fear of torture, rape, displacement and death. Whoever was involved in the past in non-humanitarian activities should take responsibility and be held accountable. The people of South Sudan deserve justice and fairness.

In my opinion, the neighbouring countries need to take responsibility as well, because when you start a fire, you never know, it might burn your own house down.

I’m sad to see my Sudan at a standstill, even after a year. The people responsible for these atrocities need to be brought to justice. The celebration of independence should mean peace and security, not bloodshed.

Please pray for South Sudan to be more peaceful and for the international community to be wiser in order to save the lives of the South Sudanese people.