New Catholic university inaugurated in south Sudan

Apr 19, 2009 / 17:21 pm

St. Mary’s University of Juba, a Catholic university in the south Sudan, was officially inaugurated on April 16.

The Sudan Tribune said that the new university is the second in Juba, the capital of the semi-autonomous region that is recovering from more than 20 years of civil war. Students began classes last month.

The university’s inauguration was officiated by Southern Sudan’s state Minister of Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs Mary Kiden Kimbo, the Catholic Information Service for Africa (CISA) reports.

She officiated on behalf of President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

“Ignorance would be more expensive to eradicate than poverty, the father of chronic diseases in Southern Sudan,” she said, thanking a church official for supporting the people’s movement during the war and for providing relief, healthcare and education in peacetime.

According to CISA, Central Equatoria State minister of Education Stephen Lemi Governor praised the Catholic Church for its work in developing human resources in Southern Sudan, where he said many people had lost opportunities for better education during the war.

Archbishop of Juba Paulino Lukudu Loro thanked the donors who helped build the university, asking them not to abandon the archdiocese.

He also urged all southern Sudanese to be responsible in nurturing the institution to become the best of its kind.