AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - The suffering of the population will increase with the war; the Church is making huge efforts

Juba (Agenzia Fides) - "Unfortunately the military option seems to prevail, and the suffering of the population will continue", say local sources from South Sudan to Agenzia Fides, who for safety reasons have asked for anonymity, in the aftermath of the failure of talks in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). No final peace agreement was reached between the two factions of the SPLM (Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the ruling party), respectively led by President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar, who since December 2013 have sparked the civil war (see Fides 10/03/2015).
"It is no secret that most of the State budget is intended to finance the war, both to pay the military and militias, and to buy new weapons that continue to arrive in the country despite the UN embargo", say Fides sources.
Our sources also point out another reality: "since much of the state budget is allocated to the war, there is little left to help the population that has been suffering since December 2013 due to the conflict. Millions of people survive thanks to international aid, particularly through the food provided by the World Food Programme. The Catholic Church is making enormous efforts to send aid to the villages scattered in the States most affected by the war".
"Unless there is a strong intervention from outside to force the two sides to return to the negotiating table, a resumption of a full-scale war is likely to happen. But even if one of the parties were to prevail militarily over the other, the conflict will leave deep wounds in the Country mainly because it is having a strong ethnic characterization", conclude Fides source. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 11/03/2015)