Valentine’s Day Was a Day of Hatred in South Sudan

February 14 was not a day of love, but of hatred and killing in Aneet, on South Sudan’s border with Sudan. Four places of worship and a marketplace were partially or completely destroyed. There were several attacks between February 10-16 that led to the death of 16 people.

There are two plausible reasons for the mayhem. Aneet is part of the oil-rich Abyei region. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir’s Tuj Ajakjch’s tribe has attacked this area, demanding the people living there leave. So far, gunmen have expelled 70,000 from Abyei. The motive might be one tribe trying to gain oil wealth through force.

The other possibility has to do with the location. The people of Abyei will have to decide if their district is part of Sudan or South Sudan, according to an agreement signed in 2005. The attacks might have come from the Sudanese government.

Let us pray fervently for:

  • The Lord to frustrate the plans of evil-doers and thwart their schemes (The Bible, Psalm 33:10-11).
  • Those who come to steal, kill, and destroy to be exposed and brought to justice (The Bible, Exodus 34:7).
  • Those involved with mayhem who have a Christian background to turn from their wicked ways and repent (The Bible, 1 Peter 4:15).

SOURCES:

CSW Everyone Free to believe, Sudan: Church elder killed, buildings destroyed in Abyei Attack. February 23, 2022