Pope Francis appealed on Sunday to Sudan's warring factions to put an end to a 10-month conflict that has seen millions displaced and prompted warnings of famine.
Pope Francis, Reuters/Alberto Pizzoli
Pope Francis appealed on Sunday to Sudan's warring factions to put an end to a 10-month conflict that has seen millions displaced and prompted warnings of famine.
"I ask again the warring parties to stop this war, which causes so much damage to the people and the future of the country", Francis said during his Angelus message.
"Let's pray so that avenues of peace will soon be found for the future of beloved Sudan", he added.
Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to end the civil war in Sudan that pits the country's armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In his traditional Sunday address, the pope also mentioned conflicts in Mozambique, Ukraine, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"Wherever there is fighting populations are exhausted, they are tired of war, which is always useless, inconclusive and will only bring death and destruction and will never lead to a solution to the problem," Francis said.
In the heart of Khartoum state's largest industrial zone, an engineer bends over a broken machine with a pair of pliers and a bunch of wires, trying to breathe life back into a production line wrecked by more than two years of war.
Beneath a smog-choked sky, the once-glistening waters of Gabes in southern Tunisia run dark with rust-coloured streaks. Trees are dying, fish vanishing and a suffocating stench infuses the air.
The Sudanese pound has shed nearly two-fifths of its value after a de facto embargo on flights from the army's wartime capital Port Sudan into the United Arab Emirates disrupted the vital gold trade, traders and Sudanese officials said.
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