Pope Francis has kissed the feet
of the South Sudan’s previous warring leaders, imploring them to maintain the
“fragile” peace that exists between them.
On Thursday, during a two-day
spiritual retreat at the Vatican, the pope pleaded with President Salva Kiir
and Riek Machar, his former deputy turned rebel leader, and three other vice
presidents to honour the armistice they signed and commit to forming a unity
government in May.
“I am asking you as a brother to
stay in peace. I am asking you with my heart, let us go forward. There will be
many problems but they will not overcome us. Resolve your problems,” the pope
said after he performed the rare gesture.
The pontiff who spoke in Italian
— which was translated by an aide into English — added that “but in front of
the people, hold hands united. So, as simple citizens, you will become fathers
of the nation.”
The leaders were apparently
shocked to see the 82-year-old pontiff — who was helped by aides — got on his
knees with difficulty to kiss the shoes of the two main opposing leaders and
several other people in the room.
Kiir and Machar had clashed in
2013, leading to a civil war that left roughly 400,000 people in South Sudan
dead. The duo however signed a peace agreement in 2018 that brought the war to
an end.
The pontiff’s dramatic and
unprecedented gesture is coming barely hours after the military in neighboring
Sudan ousted President Omar al-Bashir, its longtime leader, after 30 years of
authoritarian rule.
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