A reflection on the tenth Anniversary of South Sudan Independence

The tenth anniversary of the independence of the Republic of South Sudan reminds the people of South Sudan about God their creator, who created the world so beautiful and among the pieces on the planet God allocated the Republic of South Sudan which was recognized ten years ago by human beings, but God had already put this in place. Therefore, during this tenth anniversary, we celebrated our God-given right of being the Children of God inhabiting the world God created for us.

Secondly, the tenth anniversary of our country’s independence reminds us of the aspirations of millions of South Sudanese who from day one hoped to be granted their own rights to do what they wish to do as citizens of this beloved country but time and history took them too long. So we celebrated this particular day, remembering and recalling these great people who aspired for what we celebrate today.

In the third place, the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of our country’s independence in essence is a thanksgiving to God for enabling us to become an independent nation. This is a gift from God as we could not have done it on our own accord. God enabled us to get the Independent Republic of South Sudan and so as we say thank you to God, we repeat the same to the many men and women of this country who worked hard to get us to where we are today. We thank all our brothers and sisters, the neighboring countries that have stood with us, all our sympathizers and friends who joined us in the journey to get the independence of our country and we ask God to bless each and every one of those people who stood by us.

Number four, the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the independence of South Sudan is very emotional in the sense that it reminds us of what we fought for, what we struggled for, the hopes and the aspirations we had but to find ourselves after ten years still languishing with the most basic of all things in a given country, security, the lives of people. People are still dying and the number of guns in the hands of people have increased; people are taking laws into their own hands! We became a country so that the nation would be able to control, to protect this life which God has given us. For me, the celebration was centered around the protection of life, the enhancing of life, guiding of life, the edifying of life, and cherishing and caring for life.

In the ten years that we have been an independent nation, we would be so happy if we did what we could to make sure that at least since so many of our people died during the struggle for our independence, the first law we could have put in place was to protect, to respect, and care for the lives God has given us in this Republic.

Once we do that, the rest will fall on the line, the development will fall on the line, growth and stability will fall on the line. Protection of people’s lives, protection of the dignity of people, that is what I can say at this independence day and therefore I make my appeal to all brothers and sisters in this country that now as we have celebrated the tenth anniversary of the independence of our country may we now wake up all of us to protect, to cherish and care for the lives God has given us, the lives of our brothers and sisters and us. Let us do all we can and urge my government to prioritize the protection of the lives of the people and when they do that then this country will be moving in the right direction.

This is my hope and I am asking all those who can help us, who can support us in order to get this country to move in the right direction, please do not hesitate and do not tire.

God bless you all

Barani Eduardo Hiiboro,

Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio