SSFI's statement of support for the people of Darfur

September 16, 2004

We at South Sudanese Friends International (SSFI) express sympathy for the suffering people of Darfur. SSFI helps the people of southern Sudan by encouraging peacemaking and self-sustaining economic development. We have watched banditry and pillage devastate southern Sudan. The central government encourages this banditry and has abdicated its basic function of providing security. This is the big problem, one which international relief efforts don't confront. Consequently, relief prolongs dependency in refugee camps. We see the same pattern appearing in Darfur: lawlessness and killing followed by years of refugee camps. The events in Darfur expose the error of reducing Sudan's problems to North versus South or Moslem versus Christian. Regardless of the source of the government's abdication, though, long-term solutions must be found in mediation to aid grassroots peacemaking and in efforts that help local people to help themselves. We grieve for the people of Darfur. We pray that international efforts can provide the security to translate these lessons into action.