User:RT.Peter Muned/sandbox

Bishop Peter Munde Yacoub was born in Yambio in 1951. Because of the war, his secondary education was at the East Africa Commercial School, Kampala, Uganda. He studied at Bishop Gwynne College and when ordained, worked in the Yambio Diocese as Diocesan Secretary and Diocesan Youth Leader. He has also studied at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut. With his degree in theology, he taught at the Bishop  Gwynne College in Juba from 1994-1998. In January 1998 he was consecrated Bishop of Yambio. He has since done further studies in Beirut Please send information for the Yambio pages The Rt Revd Peter Munde Yacoub

western equatorial internal Province: Minye Address: c/o ECS P.O.Box 110, WES/Yambio, South Sudan Email: Click here for email Website: www.yambio.anglican.org The bombed and battered people of the southern Sudan and the trials of their church drew more attention from General Convention than any other international issue except perhaps international debt. In both cases, convention addressed the issues outside its legislative halls as much as or more than it did inside. "We are a voiceless people," declared Bishop Peter Munde of the Diocese of Yambio, Sudan. "Our enemies in the north have the oil, they have the money. We want the church to speak to the U.N., to Americans, to intervene." Munde was one of two Sudanese bishops, several clergy and a number of Sudanese citizens who went to Denver to seek support. They found a receptive audience. "I wanted this conference to take our suffering as their suffering," said the Rev. Michael Kiju Paul during a candlelight vigil early in the 10-day convention. Organized to raise awareness of the fundamentalist Islamic government's persecution of Christians, the vigil attracted dozens of listeners, as did the daily demonstration in front of the convention center and the hearings before the Committee on International and National Concerns, morning after early morning. "We are beginning with the church because the church is supposed to preach love," said Paul. Paul, Munde and others, including several U.S. church members with extensive missionary experience in Sudan, described abuses: slavery, torture, bombings of churches and schools, forced migrations, persecutions and forced indoctrination to Islam. They told of the civil war in Sudan that has been going on for 46 years. The north of the country, dominated by Muslims, they said, runs the government and carries on the war with profits from oil sales. Much of the oil, recently discovered, comes from the primarily Christian south, they said. "We have all the natural resources, but they are being used to buy weapons to kill us," said Munde. Life is particularly precarious for those living on or near the oil fields. Pro-government troops force people off the land, kill and torture. They "can rape your daughters in front of you," Munde said. The government "will not come to the peace table unless there is some real incentive," testified Faith McDonnell of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, who has been researching the Sudanese situation. "Right now they are waging a million-dollar-a-day war against the south, and there is no way they can keep that up except with the profits from this oil. There is a 'scorched earth' campaign to go in and burn all the villages around the oil field. ... We in the church need to take the leadership on this and say 'This has to stop." McDonnell is orchestrating a campaign to get pension and retirement funds to divest of stocks in any firm doing business with the oil companies involved. Convention approved a resolution affirming solidarity with the Episcopal Church in Sudan and urging the U.S. government to assign the highest priority to advancing a just peace there. The resolution also encourages Episcopalians "to give generously" to help the people of Sudan rebuild their lives. Anyone interested in doing that can contact Episcopal Relief and Development at 800-334-7626, ext. 6027. For information about other ways to be involved with Sudan or the church there, call Margaret Larom in the Anglican and global relations office at extension 6224. A resolution that called for the Church Pension Fund to divest from the Sudanese oil industry did not make it through the House of Bishops before time ran out.

International debt

A rally and "human chain" of about 200 people, sponsored by Jubilee 2000 Colorado, focused attention on the burden of international debt on poor countries. Bishop Enock Lee Drati of the Diocese of Madi and West Nile, Uganda, keynote speaker at the rally, told participants the modest debt relief Uganda has received has helped increase the number of young people enrolled in school from 53 to 90 percent. The rally and its half dozen speakers from six denominations drew about 200 people early in the convention. One day later, an English bishop, author and authority on Third World debt issued terse warnings to the "First World" legislators gathered in Denver. "The international debt crisis is not something that has gone wrong with the system ... not an unfortunate virus ... not a freak storm," Bishop Peter Selby of the Diocese of Worcester told the 100 guests at The Witness magazine dinner. "The crisis is intrinsic to the system and has to do with the uncontrolled hegemony of money." Selby, author of "Grace and Mortgage," explained the origins of the crisis, how the huge influx of money from increased oil prices in the 1970s had to be "sold," loaned at interest, and how much of it went to "corrupt regimes ... military regimes ... dictatorial regimes." "Countries are paying back money they have already paid many times over," said Selby, who co-chaired the international debt section at the 1998 Lambeth Conference. "That's why the remission of international debt is not a piece of charity. It is a justice issue. The reality is, we [the wealthy nations who make the loans] have made a heap of money out of international debt and it is time we stopped." Convention didn't pass the forceful resolution on Jubilee debt reduction. The bishops did not get to it by the end of their session. However, resolutions dealing with ethical principles and funding for international economic development were approved and all dioceses were challenged to support international micro-credit initiatives. Convention also urged an increase in aid and in private investment in South African education programs "to lift the poor out of poverty." In resolutions on other international issues, the convention: ·Urged Congress to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba. ·Supported initiatives to make HIV/AIDS-related medications available at affordable prices throughout the world. ·Expressed solidarity with Christians distressed in Indonesia and victimized in Pakistan and urged U.S. government relief and development. ·Promoted a partnership between Executive Council, other groups and the Diocese of Haiti to develop a poverty-reduction strategy. ·Supported efforts to stop the domestic and international trafficking in women, girls and boys. ·Urged immediate action to lift restrictions on normal trade in civilian goods with Iraq. ·Affirmed the rights of Palestinians and Israelis to self-determination, independence and sovereignty. |

Genie Carr of the Episcopal News Service convention team and Sharon Sheridan of the Episcopal Life team, contributed to this story.