Clergy in South Sudan face rising death threats but they refuse to leave

A Google Maps view of South Sudan and Rumbek, where Bishop Christian Carlassare, an Italian missionary, was shot by unknown gunmen.

Last week, an unidentified group of gunmen in central South Sudan shot and injured the bishop-elect of Rumbek Catholic Diocese, Christian Carlassare. The 43-year-old Italian missionary was shot in both legs while sleeping in his bed at home.

The shooting highlights the dangers of living in South Sudan and the tenacity of clergy who refuse to leave people behind in the region, even while death threats to Christian leaders there are rising. South Sudan has been trying to implement a new peace agreement in a civil war that’s plagued them since 2011, but their national forces are up against civilian rebel groups with even more gun power. More than 50,000 people have died in war and 4 million forced to relocate since 2013, according to conservative estimates.

“We know that South Sudan is a dangerous place and those unknown gunmen have killed many people and there have been threats even against bishops but we do not consider ourselves as [more] special people than our people who always get killed,” said the Catholic Archbishop of Juba, Stephen Ameyu Martin Muller, who goes by Ameyu.

READ: Anglican Priest Killed In South Sudan In Renewed Military Conflict

The gunmen targeted Carlassare on April 25 by searching for his room at the church residence, witnesses told Religion Unplugged.

“They knocked on the door and started shooting the door. They shot the door until it opened,” said Abednego Marol, the head of logistics at the Rumbek diocese.

Another witness, Fr. Andrea Osman, said he heard Bishop Carlassare shouting in the room, calling for help, but he could not help because the assailants were armed with guns.

Bishop Carlassare in the hospital. Photo by Juma Peter Maya.

“I tried to knock on my door from inside so that I can scare them away, but they didn't seem bothered,” Osman said. He heard three shots. Two entered Carlassare’s legs. The bishop was brought to a hospital and treated for his injuries.

Pope Francis appointed the Italy-born Christian Carlassare as bishop of Rumbek diocese succeeding the late Bishop Cesare Mazzolari who died in July 2011.

Archbishop Ameyu also confirmed that he and Bishop Stephen Nyodho received death threats. However, Ameyu declined to disclose the identity of the group attempting to harm their lives.

“In fact, this has come out of the blue,” Ameyu said. “We have never thought that such a thing would happen in our midst especially after the joyous reception of the bishop-elect at the airport and how people were happy in Rumbek because of the bishop-elect.”

He said his administration was setting up the arrangements in order for the bishop-elect to be taken to Nairobi, Kenya for further treatment. Both legs were shot in such a way that the bullets passed through and did not affect his bones, Ameyu said, calling it “miraculous.”  

United Nations peacekeeping forces maintain supply routes in South Sudan. Photo by U.N./Creative Commons.

Rising death threats against clergy

Archbishop Ameyu has received many death threats from unidentified individuals. Catholic Clergy Religion Unplugged spoke to say they have seen a rise death threats against the church leaders this year and attribute that to the state of lawlessness in South Sudan.

“People are giving warnings to many of us,” Ameyu said. “I was warned that they […] will kill me. Bishop Stephen Nyodho was given a warning. They also threatened to kill Bishop Anyodho. So, it is not something which is very surprising. When the society is violent, we expect always violence to be upon anybody especially when you don’t have bodyguards or somebody taking care of you, you have to expect always such kind of attacks.”

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Sudan and South Sudan appealed to the revitalized government of South Sudan to implement the latest peace agreement seriously, especially to seize illicit guns from civilians.

“The implementation of the peace agreement is taking a long time,” Ameyu said. “By this time; we would have already a national army that can stand to protect our borders, protect our very important people and other people who need protection but because we are lagging behind in the implementation of this peace, but at the end of the tunnel, there would always be a light.”

He said the government and the opposition groups have to work together in order to resolve the rampant killings of innocent people in the country.

Stephen Ameyu said another bishop was attacked and beaten by unknown gunmen in Eastern Equatoria State.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit condemned the shooting and wounding of Bishop Carlassare, calling on the authorities in Lakes State to carry out an expeditious investigation that will lead to lawful apprehension and persecution of criminals who perpetrated this crime.

President Kiir said if those who shot and wounded Bishop Carlassore were doing so to intimidate the church, he will not allow any attempt to terrorize the ecclesiastical authority.

“The reprehensible act of violence meted on him [Bishop Carlassare] is unacceptable and it must stop,” President Kiir said. “I call upon all South Sudanese to condemn the criminals who carried out this heinous crime in the strongest term possible.”

In May 2016, Veronika Terezia Rackova—a Catholic missionary—was killed by government soldiers at a checkpoint in Yei River County while driving an ambulance with an expecting mother.

In November 2018, the gunmen stormed the Catholic compound in the defunct Gok State—now Lakes State—killing a Kenyan Jesuit Priest, Victor Luke Odhiambo.

Though the government and the opposition groups struggle to implement a fragile, revitalized peace agreement, the presence of the illicit guns in the hands of the civilians remains a lifelong challenge. The government earlier signaled an alarm that the civilians are more armed than the national forces, making it difficult to collect the firearms from the hands of unauthorized persons in the country.

In the course of the 2020 Christmas festive season, three soldiers stormed a church in the region’s southwest, forced the believers to drink alcohol against their beliefs, abducted clergymen and women and locked five members and three children of the church in a hut that they set on fire.

READ: South Sudan Soldiers Locked Church Members In A Burning Hut, Raped Women

The Governor of Lakes State, Makur Kulang, initiated several disarmament exercises in Rumbek where the bishop was shot and collected hundreds of guns from the unauthorized persons, though some groups of armed youth refused to hand over their weapons in several attempts. Days after a disarmament exercise in August 2020 in Tonj East County, more than 80 soldiers were killed and more than 90 others wounded after a violent conflict erupted between the soldiers and the armed youth.

Juma Peter Maya is a freelance journalist based in South Sudan who has worked with BBC Monitoring, The Christians Times online newspaper, The Dawn newspaper, The Patriot newspaper and The Independent, among others.