Palm Sunday in contested border region of Abyei
Add to Cart Add to Lightbox Download5Waving tree branches, Catholics process around the ruins of their war-ravaged church during a Palm Sunday Mass at the Catholic Church in Abyei, a contested region along the border between Sudan and South Sudan. Under a 2005 peace agreement, the region was supposed to have a referendum to decide which country it would join, but the two countries have yet to agree on who can vote. In 2011, militias aligned with Khartoum looted the church and drove out most of the Dinka Ngok residents, pushing them across a river into the town of Agok. Yet more than 40,000 Dinka Ngok have since returned, with support from Caritas South Sudan, which has drilled well, built houses, opened clinics and provided seeds and tools for the returnees. Yet violence has continued, with a March 1 militia attack killing four residents, according to the United Nations.
- Filename
- south-sudan-2015-jeffrey-abyei-343.jpg
- Copyright
- Paul Jeffrey
- Image Size
- 4725x3155 / 7.2MB
- Contained in galleries
- Abyei