SCIAF Hosts Sudan Group Conference

Delegates from Catholic aid organisations across Europe and south Sudan will meet at SCIAF’s headquarters in Glasgow this week to identify how best to address the challenges faced in rebuilding southern Sudan after decades of civil war. The gathering will also address the ongoing humanitarian aid crisis in Darfur in Western Sudan.

The people of Southern Sudan are under tremendous pressure as they try to rebuild their country after a bloody civil war which spanned fifty years. The conflict left the country totally impoverished without basic infrastructure including roads, communications, basic healthcare and education, as well as mass unemployment. The aid work undertaken by SCIAF and its partners focuses on dealing directly with these problems.

The organisations from across the Caritas and CIDSE networks who work in the Sudan hold meetings twice a year – once in Europe and once in East Africa – to discuss the problems on the ground, new issues that arise, what can be learned, as well as how joint working can be more effective in helping those in need.

This week’s conference marks the first time the Sudan Working Group has met in Scotland. The conference will run from the 13th to the 15th June and pull together representatives from twenty key organisations.

SCIAF’s Africa desk officer, Stephen Martin, is organising the event. He said:

“The huge crisis facing Darfur and Chad often overshadows the plight of the people in Southern Sudan who have also been badly affected by years of civil war. Whilst SCIAF and its partners work across Sudan the focus of that work is different. In Darfur and Chad the attention is very much on emergency aid. In Southern Sudan, which faces a different set of problems, our work is very much on helping the people establish the basics of a sustainable future such as primary health care, basic education for children, and employment schemes enabling people to begin to rebuild their communities and livelihoods after years in exile.

“I am delighted to welcome our partners from the Sudan and Europe. I know our meetings will be extremely insightful, productive, and help tremendously in our work together to help alleviate the suffering of the millions people in Southern Sudan.”

A guest speaker, Dr Huaichuan Rue, a lecturer in International Business at Brunel University in London will also explore the role and influence of China in Africa and Sudan and the implications for aid and development work. China is currently investing heavily in Africa and is a major player in the Sudanese oil industry.

The Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983, although it was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. It took place, for the most part, in the southern Sudan and was one of the longest lasting and deadliest wars of the later 20th century. Roughly 1.9 million civilians were killed in southern Sudan, and more than 4 million have been forced to flee their homes at one time or another since the war began. The civilian death toll is one of the highest of any war since World War II. The conflict ended with the signing of a peace agreement in January 2005.

List of delegates:

Mr Stephen Martin - SCIAF

Mr Mauro Ansaldi – CAFOD (based in Sudan)

Mr Jose Maria Gallardo – Caritas Internationalis

Dr Giovanni Sartor – Caritas Italy

Ms Rita Ndegwa – Caritas Switzerland & Caritas Luxemburg

Ms Marianne Huber – Caritas Switzerland

Mr Marianne Caucik – Christian Children Communities Movement

Ms Hetty Burgman - Cordaid

Ms Garrido Patricia – Manos Unidas

Dr Corra Fettback – Misereor (Chair of Sudan Working Group)

Fr Anthony Bangoye SCBRS (Sudan Catholic Bishops Regional Secretariat)

Mr Ikalur Joseph – SCBRS

Dr Paolo Pironti – SCBRS

Ms Armelle Guillembet – Secours-catholique

Ms Alexis Adam - Secours-catholique

Mr George Leperchey - Secours-catholique

Mr Wolfgang Bohm – DKA Austria

Mr Jan Weuts – Caritas International Belgium

Mr Ryan Douglas – CRS

Mr Wenzel Andreas – Caritas Germany

Br Pedro Arrambide – Solidarity with Southern Sudan

Dr Rue Huaichuan – Lecturer in Int. Business, Brunel Uni., London.

12th June 2007