'Pray for Peace to Come Back to Our Country'

Monday June 2 2014

“When people ran for their safety they thought of three places. One is the humanitarian camp, the UN, which is 3km away from the town. The others are the hospital and the church. So I opened the gate and about 2300 people came in. After that, soldiers came.”

Last year, fighting erupted between supporters and opponents of the President in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country. The Rev Peter Gai Lual Marrow, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, found himself with a church compound full of civilians sheltering from the fighting.

“I was always at the gate because I didn’t want anybody to come in with a gun. Some soldiers wanted to see their family, they were not sure whether they were alive or dead. But others may come inside to look for revenge [against people from rival tribes]. So I took that decision that nobody would come in with a gun.”

Peter is completely matter-of-fact in describing what must have been a terrifying situation, although he says that it helped that he is well-known in Malakal, where the Church has its headquarters.

He also has experience of violent situations, having been in the army which fought for South Sudanese independence between 1968 and 1972. Since then he has worked for the church, first as a volunteer evangelist for over 20 years until he was ordained in 1995, and then in a variety of roles until he was elected Moderator in 2012.

He visited Scotland this month to attend the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly and addressed church’s up and down the country, telling his story and the work that the churches in South Sudan are doing to try to push for peace.

“As a South Sudanese we have been at war for almost five decades. We are a rich country, both minerals and oil, but because of the war there’s no way to utilise these things.

“The last war was about a struggle freedom, but now South Sudan has freedom, so it is just a matter of power: one person wants to retain power, one wants to ascend to power.

“The South Sudan Council of Churches came up with a statement that we want peace, we don’t want war. We will keep going and mount pressure on both parties to let there be peace by any means.”

He asked that the Church of Scotland, which has been in partnership with the Presbyterian Churches of Sudan and South Sudan for many years, to ‘double their effort’ to help with the ‘desperate need’ in the country, and also to ‘pray for peace to come back to our country’.

A longer interview will appear in August's Life and Work. Subscribe