The Anglican church in South Sudan has enthroned its first Archbishop for one of its eight internal provinces created in Nov 2013, in a service which was attended by the Vice President of the republic of South Sudan, Dr James Wani Igga.
The enthroned Archbishop of the central equatorial internal province, the Most Revd Paul Pitya Benjamin Yougusuk, is the son of the late second Archbishop of Sudan, Benjamin Wani Yugusuk.
The Vice President paid tribute to Archbishop Paul for his peacemaking efforts – pointing out that he has always worked for peace just like his father. In an African idiom he referred to the Yugusuk family as “a lion that gives birth to a lion” meaning that a thief is likely to give birth to a thief and so an archbishop produces an archbishop.
Archbishop Paul brokered a peace deal between insurgents operating in the western equatorial state, who were in conflict with the government; the conflict resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians from that area.
The Vice President also thanked the Archbishop and Primate of the episcopal church of South Sudan, the most Revd Daniel Deng Bul, for expanding the church even though the country is tarred by violence which has caused millions to flee their homes He encouraged the Archbishop to unite the population and called on the church leaders to continue preaching messages of peace.
Archbishop Paul with his family: