An African church senior official said that Catholic bishops of Eastern and Southern Africa pledged to send observers to monitor the referendum process and assist in civic education.
Bishop Tarcisio Ziyaye of Blantire (Malawi) is the President of AMECEA, the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa.Bishop Ziyaye told the participants at the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Rumbek that AMECEA together with SECAM, the Symposium of Episcopal conferences of Africa and Madagascar, pledged to send a team to monitor the referendum vote on January 9, 2011.
Bishop Ziyaye said that in addition churches in Eastern and Southern Africa would support the historical referendum in the Sudan through formative programmes on civic education.
The Catholic Bishops of Sudan welcomed AMECEA and SECAM’s pledge and called on the Church in Africa to assist in monitoring the referendum process in an appeal issued yesterday.