Pope Francis appealed to South Sudan leaders to “lower the tension in the country” as Catholic bishops in Sudan and South Sudan expressed alarm at the escalating violence in the world’s youngest nation and warned of a catastrophe if full-scale war returns.

“I am following the situation in South Sudan with concern,” the Pope said in his Angelus address released March 30. “I renew my heartfelt appeal to all leaders to do their utmost to lower the tension in the country. We must put aside our differences and, with courage and responsibility, sit around a table and engage in constructive dialogue.

“Only in this way will it be possible to alleviate the suffering of the beloved South Sudanese people and to build a future of peace and stability.”

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Fears of renewed war have been looming since early March, when the White Army, a Nuer ethnic youth militia, overran the national army units in Nasir County. The conflict escalated on March 7 when an army general and over 20 soldiers were killed in the area near the Ethiopian border after a United Nations helicopter on a rescue mission was shot down in fierce fighting.

President Salva Kiir’s government has responded with aerial strikes in the area, reportedly with support of Uganda People’s Defense Forces.

Riek Machar, South Sudan’s first vice president, is now under house arrest for alleged ties with the White Army.

The clashes, arrests of political leaders and “the increasing displacement of civilians — especially women and children — mark a tragic reversal of the peace we have all longed and prayed for,” said Cardinal Ameyu Martin Mulla, president of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic bishops’ conference, and other bishops in a statement.

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South Sudan descended into a civil war in December 2013 following a political dispute between Kiir and Machar. Triggered barely two years after the country’s independence in 2011, the war killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced another two million. The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, signed in 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ended countrywide fighting and allowed the formation of a transitional government.

“People are sad and worrying about the political wrangling within the government. Coupled with the economic meltdown, the common people are seeing no sign of leadership that considers their sufferings,” Fr. John Gbemboyo Joseph Mbikoyezu, the coordinator of the South Sudan Catholic bishops’ conference, told OSV News.

The bishops warned that the arrest of opposition leaders and the involvement of foreign military forces have only served to heighten fear and mistrust.

“Such actions risk turning our beloved country into a battleground for external interests and political manipulation,” the bishops said, cautioning that if South Sudan returned to full-scale violence, the consequences would be catastrophic.

“The loss of human life, the collapse of national unity and the breakdown of already fragile institutions will devastate future generations.”

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While expressing the Church’s readiness to mediate in the conflict, the bishops urged the civil society, youth and women groups, traditional leaders, the international community and all people of goodwill to rally against the war and unite for peace.

After the arrest of their leader, Machar’s party declared the revitalized peace agreement was canceled, as pressure for his release, a cessation of hostilities and return to dialogue continued to rise.