‘Civil war displaced our people. But even in the wilderness, God is there’

When civil war ravaged South Sudan and displaced his community, Rt Rev Joseph Aba, Bishop of Liwolo, followed his people into exile. He says God is powerfully at work in the Ugandan refugee camp in which he now ministers

Bishop Aba has lived through three civil wars and for the last six years has been  living in a refugee camp. But, despite the hardships, he is not bitter, nor has he lost hope in God’s plan for the future of his country. 

When South Sudan declared its independence in 2011, there was hope that the bloody civil wars that had engulfed the region for 50 years would finally end. But two years after independence, a power struggle within the ruling party – largely made up of the majority Dinka tribe – and ethnically targeted violence from armed militia plunged the country back into conflict. More than 400,000 people have since died in the South Sudanese Civil War, which the UK government declared a genocide in 2017.