Sudanese church leaders hope Powell's visit will help secure peace

Published: 2003-10-23

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) -- Church leaders in Sudan said they hope a visit to Africa by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will help secure peace for their troubled country. They also said that they hoped peace would help Sudan develop its infrastructure. Sudan "would be very difficult to develop unless provided with resources," said Father Alfonso Rossi, communications officer for the Rumbek Diocese. "The service there is back to the Stone Age." Father Rossi said it would be difficult to develop southern Sudan even from a church standpoint. "There are no roads, no running water," he said. "Things we consider essential are not existent." Father Edward Brady, spokesman for the Nairobi-based Sudan Catholic Bishops' Regional Conference, which groups bishops of southern Sudan, said the nation's South needs peace more than anything else.

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