GAMBELLA, ETHIOPIA (July 31, 2017) – Covenant World Relief has donated funds to the Evangelical Covenant Church of South Sudan and Ethiopia (ECCSSE) to help care for refugees fleeing the latest intense fighting near the border of the two African nations.
In response to the latest fighting, the denomination has worked with a coalition of churches and local non-governmental organizations to identify 350 households with a total of 2,100 officials they hope to help, ECCSSE president Mathew Jock Moses said today in an email. “We are planning to respond vigorously with both food and non-food items,” he added.
Prior to the violence, the denomination was headquartered in Juba, South Sudan, but Covenant leaders and others were forced to flee the fighting and resettle in Gambella.
Civil war has raged in South Sudan since December 2013 despite multiple peace agreements. South Sudan forces took the key rebel-held town of Maiwut on Thursday and are set to attack Pagak, the center of the rebel resistance. Pagak is roughly 30 miles from Gambella.
The factions have often been divided along ethnic lines. The violence has led to Africa’s worst refugee crisis. More than three million people have fled their homes.
