The bishop of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in South Sudan has cancelled a visit to the United States of America (USA) to accept a “global citizenship award.”
The cancellation of the trip to the USA comes as result of insecurity in his home area of Yei in Central Equatoria State. Bishop Elias Taban was invited by the Clinton Global Initiative of former US president Bill Clinton.
Bishop Elias as the winner of the “global citizenship award” was expected to meet USA policymakers like former president Bill Clinton and the 2016 USA presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“I was scheduled to meet them in New York by next week but because of the situation here in Yei I opted to stay in the town to suffer together and settle our issues face to face with my people,” he said.
“I am sure if I am to go to such a trip to the USA now, many people may misunderstand, fabricate me and my family that the bishop has run away which will create more fear among the people. I have already written to the US and they are already aware of the situation here in Yei,” he said.
Commenting on peace, Elias said that he and other bishops in Yei are working hard to ensure that peace returns back to the country. He urged all South Sudanese to inculcate the culture of promoting peace and to open corridors for roundtable negotiation as the only tool towards peace and development.
He said fighting is destructive and retards efforts for development.
Bishop Elias cited the example of a multi-million dollar project on rural solar electrification of South Sudan with financial support from the Indian government, saying insecurity had obstructed the project.
“We already have containers of solar panels laying in India pending shifting to Yei via Mombasa to start the implementation of pilot project in Kenyi Payam of Lainya. But now we cannot reach Kenyi because all the people have been displaced and the project is still pending until peace returns to the area,” he said.