Presented by the Most Revd Dr Daniel Deng Bul, Archbishop and Primate of the Sudan

Your Grace, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

Your Graces, the Archbishops of our beloved Anglican Communion,

Your Lordships, the Bishops of the Anglican Communion and the clergy,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We greet you all in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

We, the Sudanese Bishops gathering at the Lambeth Conference, would like on behalf of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) and the whole Sudanese people, to acknowledge and appreciate your prayers and support during the 21 years of war in Southern Sudan and in reaching the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement / Army (SPLM/A) on 9th January 2005. The CPA provides the basis for a just and sustainable peace in the Sudan. We give thanks to God for the agreement and express our support for all efforts to ensure its full and timely implementation.

After 21 years of war, in which more than 2 million people lost their lives and more than 4 million people have become refugees or internally displaced, we are greatly encouraged at thenew future offered by the CPA. However, we remain deeply concerned that the conflict in Darfur, in Western Sudan, continues unabated, and at the localized conflict in several places which threatens stability and the sustainability of peace. We therefore wish to share with you thefollowing concerns:

1. Situation in Darfur

Despite the Government of Sudan’s official estimate of not more than 10,000 people killed in the fighting in Darfur, the UN has estimated there to have been some 300,000 war-related deaths since the conflict escalated in 2003. Whatever the exact figures, this continuing loss of life is an affront to all people who value human life and to religious faith in the God of mercy.

Anglican Communion News Service: Statement of the Sudenese Bishops to the Lambeth Conference on the Situation in Sudan