Release International

Peace in Sudan is under threat because, a year after the peace deal was signed, its people have yet to experience a 'peace dividend', observers say.

People in southern Sudan -- where civil war claimed two million lives over 21 years -- say they feel forgotten, abandoned and fearful of a return to war, according to the BBC.

Southerners, who are mainly Christian and animist, accuse the former Khartoum regime of breaking its word on sharing oil revenues equally between north and south. The south remains without any substantial infrastructure despite donor pledges last year amounting to $4.5 billion. Many communities still lack proper food and water.

More than half a million refugees are expected to return to southern Sudan this year. 'People in Sudan are not treated equally… and peace will not stay until they are,' medical worker Francis Gatluak told the BBC.

At a ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of the peace agreement in the southern town of Juba, former rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement admitted that little progress had been made in the past 12 months.

Sudan analyst Peter Moszynski told the BBC: 'The peace dividend has not been delivered. There is very little sign of change in the south.'

The BBC also reports claims that elements of the old Khartoum regime are still arming militias that continue to terrorise southerners. These militias have apparently ignored calls for them to join either the northern or southern armies.

Pray that concerted efforts will be made by politicians of all parties to ensure that the people of southern Sudan will start to feel the benefits of peace in tangible ways.

Praise God that a fragile peace has held in much of Sudan. Pray that peace would return to troubled areas such as Darfur in the west and insecure parts of the south and east.

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