Rev. Fidon Mwombeki, All Africa Conference of Churches general secretary, has expressed concern at the slow pace of the South Sudan peace process, while highlighting that the Africa-wide ecumenical body has accompanied the people in the world’s youngest nation for many years.

His comments come amid growing fears that the September 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan was facing too many obstacles, as its key elements remained unimplemented or were lagging behind.

“I am not satisfied. I am very disappointed by lack of progress in South Sudan. The All Africa Conference of Churches has invested a lot for many years to bring peace together and bring the country together,” Mwombeki, a Tanzania Lutheran pastor, told journalists in Nairobi on 14 August. “I plead with the churches there to take the lead by saying: okay, we want to be together and we reject the politics of fragmentation.”

In 2011, South Sudan became an independent state after seceding from Sudan, the largely Arab and Islamic northeast African country.

But within two years, a new conflict ignited following political disputes.

On April 11, 2019 Pope Francis implored maintaining the tenuous peace that exists between them.

“I’m asking you with my heart,” the pope said to the president, Salva Kiir, and the opposition leader, Riek Machar, clutching his hands in front of his chest. “Stay in peace.”