Pope Francis urges global leaders to push for peace in Sudan and northern Mozambique

Pope Francis launched the appeal on Sunday after praying the Angelus with pilgrims in the St. Peter’s Square, recalling that 10 months have passed since conflict broke out in Sudan, leading to a serious humanitarian situation.

“I once again ask the warring parties to stop this war, which causes so much harm to the people and the future of the country,” the Pope said. “Let us pray that paths to peace are soon found to build the future of dear Sudan.” He also urged global leaders to push for peace in Sudan and northern Mozambique, where a Catholic mission was set ablaze.

Mozambique:

The Holy Father lamented a flare-up in “violence against defenseless populations, the destruction of infrastructure, and widespread insecurity” in the northern Cabo Delgado Region of Mozambique. He also noted that the Catholic mission of Our Lady of Africa in Mazeze was set ablaze.

According to Oliveira Amimo, the administrator of Chiúre district in Mozambique, armed assailants destroyed the Catholic chapel and several people’s homes.

“Let us pray for peace to return to that tormented region,” the Pope said. while also praying for people suffering from conflict in other counties on the African continent, as well as in Ukraine and the Holy Land.

War, the Holy Father recalled, “is always a defeat.”

“Let us instead pray tirelessly,” he concluded, “because prayer is effective, and let us ask the Lord for the gift of minds and hearts dedicated concretely to peace.”

Sudan:

Despite numerous attempts to bring to an end, the brutal conflict in Sudan, fighting is prevalent in the country.

The Northeast African country has been witnessing brutal armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary, Rapid Support Forces––or RSF––since April 2023, with each side accusing the other of initiating the conflict.

Now, the Sudanese military––or SAF––have advanced in Omdurman for the first time since the war with the RSF erupted. Omdurman is regarded as the twin city to the country’s capital, Khartoum, which sits on the opposite side of the Nile.

On Sunday, February 18, reports from the country suggested that the SAF have joined their peers in the engineering corps in the south of the city, where they have been surrounded by the RSF for the last ten months.

The clashes in Sudan have left more than 25 million people reliant on humanitarian assistance with about eight million displaced, including 1.6 million who have fled to other countries.