APO News from Africa:
Amid conflict and looming famine in South Sudan, the church offers hope:
For the general overseer of the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) there is trauma and hopelessness in his country, and the only institution that can offer hope at the moment is the church.
Rev. Dr Isaiah Majok Dau is also presiding bishop of the Sudan Pentecostal Church, which in turn belongs to an ecumenical council that includes all the traditions of Christianity in the country.
“We are experiencing levels of violence we have never seen before,” says the bishop.
“I talk as a church person, as a person who is involved in the situation every day, listening and hearing from both sides and the ordinary person in the street,” says quiet-spoken Dau, whose words carry a poignant power.
“I also talk to you as a child of war. Anyone who is in their sixties in South Sudan is a child of war. Some of us were born just after the first war broke out in 1955.
“We have lived in the war, have married in the war, we have children and grandchildren in war. It is not a good thing to be in that situation,” says the bishop.
He paid his first visit to Geneva and the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 27 March and attended a meeting of the Ecumenical Network of South Sudan – European Hub, which issued a pastoral message to the SSCC.
The message called for prayer and a “strong momentum of engagement and advocacy” to contribute to the scheduled visit of Pope Francis to South Sudan towards the end of the year, which could boost peace initiatives.
‘On the brink of collapse’
Dr Nigussu Legesse, WCC programme executive for advocacy in Africa, started the meeting saying, “South Sudan is on a brink of collapse – economically, socially, militarily and in other ways.
“It is engulfed in a mutually reinforcing war system that involves more than two principal players: the government led by the SPLM, and the opposition.”
SPLM stands for Sudan People's Liberation Movement, a political party in South Sudan.
“The latest crisis in South Sudan is the declaration of famine by the government and also the United Nations, where 100,000 people are in danger of dying of famine and one million people are on the verge of that fate,” Legesse said.
There are 5.5 million people estimated to be currently severely food insecure and at least 7.5 million people across South Sudan – almost two thirds of the population – need humanitarian assistance.
“Three years conflict have eroded livelihoods and disrupted farming,” said Legesse.
He noted that in African countries “the first generation of liberation war heroes have felt entitled to maximise personal benefits after years or decades of sacrifice”.
Legesse cited among them, Zimbabwe, where 93-year-old Robert Mugabe has ruled for 37 years, Eritrea and Uganda.
When South Sudan became independent on 9 July 2011, after many decades of brutal war with Khartoum government forces in Sudan, the world was filled with optimism for the world’s newest nation, since the churches had played a key role in helping broker the process.
‘Community of nations’
“We thought South Sudan would be in the community of nations,” says Bishop Dau. “But then 2013 shattered that,” when people in South Sudan accelerated bitter conflicts within themselves.
During part of the earlier war, the one for independence, the bishop had managed to complete a masters and doctorate of theology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, focussing on suffering and the role of the church in South Sudan.
“The events of the last few years are even more devastating because they come after we had a level of hope,” said Dau.
In December, however, the government in Juba managed to partly alleviate the situation in the capital.
“We in the church should extend it from Juba and across the country,” said the SSCC general overseer, explaining that churches in traditional communities are playing a conciliatory role.
“Whether the government will tap into that is a question for another day,” said Dau.
‘Message of hope’
“With the looming famine and economic state, we in the church are giving a message of hope. This is not just pie in the sky. Good will come of it if we work for it. The Gospel gives hope to the people.
“As a people we have been there. We have been in darker places before and we came out of it because we pulled together.”
Rev. Dr Andre Karamaga, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), concurred that, “this is a critical time for South Sudan”.
He said that the ecumenical family has been involved in South Sudan since the inception of the AACC in 1963.
The AACC leader also noted that when it comes to national church councils, “in Africa we have 14 countries in which all the churches are involved. South Sudan is among them.”
The SSCC includes Anglican, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and a wide swathe of Protestant traditions along with Roman Catholics, and Legesse said that the council always refers to itself as “the church”, which has been “inspiring”.
Bishop Dau said, “Somehow the people of South Sudan have belief at this time and we have hope in the churches. The church is the symbol of unity. It places a huge responsibility on us to remain together.
“Unity is beautiful, but it is not always easy. Why is it easier to be divided rather than united?”
He also conceded, “Part of the problem in South Sudan has been what we say, and hate speech has been a problem, even sometimes from the pulpit.”
In April 2016, a peace deal for South Sudan was struck, but it soon floundered.
Ferdinand von Habsburg-Lothringen, senior advisor on peace and reconciliation at the SSCC, said at the Geneva meeting, “In Juba very few people have confidence that the peace agreement has any hope.”
He added, “People have used the word comatose and dead for the peace agreement…We have a divergent set of opinions where South Sudan is right now. There is a feeling that the situation is intractable.”
Habsburg-Lothringen said that there are divisions within the political sphere “with a very narrow band of people driving the conflict”.
The day before the ecumenical group met in Geneva, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, strongly condemned the killing of six aid workers in an ambush on 25 March. The aid workers were travelling from Juba to Pibor.
“I am appalled and outraged by the heinous murder yesterday of six courageous humanitarians in South Sudan,” said Owusu. “At a time when humanitarian needs have reached unprecedented levels, it is entirely unacceptable that those who are trying to help are being attacked and killed.”
Distributed by APO on behalf of World Council of Churches (WCC).
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Company Symbol: UAC-PROP
[UAC-PROP]>> Company Reports
UACN Property Development Company Plc
Date: 31st March 2017
Period: December 31, 2016
Statement of Comprehensive Income
Turnover/Revenue Audited 6.3451 NB Audited 5.114 NB
Costs of Sales Audited 5.188 (NB) Audited 3.6 (NB)
Gross Profit Audited 1.156 NB Audited 1.519 NB
Fair Value Gains on Investment Property Audited 1.509 NB Audited 0.253 NB
Gain/ (Loss) On Disposal of Investment Properties Audited 0.732 Audited (57.4) NM
Other Operating Income Audited 327 NM Audited 575.28 NM
Selling & Distribution Expenses Audited 131 (NM) Audited 107.16 (NM)
Admin Expenses Audited 1.822 (NB) Audited 1.379 (NB)
Other Losses 1.7 (NB) Audited Nil (Audited)
Operating Profit Audited 76 NM Audited 804.0 NB
Finance Income Audited 625 NM Audited 607.98 NM
Other Gains & Loss Audited Nil NM Audited Nil NM
Finance Costs Audited 2.826 (NB) Audited 2.671 (NB)
Share of Profit of Associate Audited 1.161 NB Audited 1.787 NB
Share of Loss Of Joint Ventures 71 (NM) Audited Nil Audited
Impairment of Investment and Receivable 748 (NM) Audited 473.0 NM Audited
Loss before Tax Audited 1.783 (NB) Audited 56 NM NB
Taxation Audited 233 Nm Audited 324.93 Nm
Loss after Tax Audited 1.550 (NB) Audited 380.78 NM
Earnings per Share (K) Basic Audited (88) K Audited 25 K
Earnings per Share (K) Diluted Audited (88) K Audited 25 K
Statement of Financial Position
Property, Plant & Equipment 12.25 NB 12.631 NB
Intangible Assets 51.4 NM 59.81 NM
Investment Properties 16.654 NB 16.867 NB
Investments in Associate and JV 19.70 NB 21.198 NB
Available-for-Sale Financial Asset 10.0 NM 10.0 NM
Inventories 12.868 NB 12.332 NB
Trade & Other Receivables 9.288 NB 8.762 NB
Cash and Cash Equivalents 89.11 NM 100.90 NM
Total Assets 70.904 NB 71.961 NB
Interest Bearing Loans and Borrowings 4.0 NB 6.399 NB
Deferred Taxation 72.5 Nm 483.23 NB
Deferred Revenue 4.6 Nm 15.75 NM
Trade & Other Payables 12.934 NB 11.887 NB
Current Tax Liabilities 732.5 NM 786.76 NM
Interest Bearing Loans and Borrowings 18.608 NB 16.407 NB
Deferred Revenue 220 NM 241.37 NM
Dividend Payable 308 NM 166 NM
Total Liabilities 36.880 NB 36.386 NB
Working Capital 10.557 (NB) 8.293 (NB)
Net Assets 34.024 NB 35.574 NB
Corporate Actions
Final Dividend: Nil
Qualification Date: Not Applicable
Closure Date: To Be Advised
AGM Date: 23rd May 2017
AGM Venue: Golden Tulip Festac Hotel, Lagos
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Company Name: Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (http://Dangote.com)
Company Symbol: DANGSUGAR
[DANGSUGAR]>> Company Report
Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc
Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2016
December 2016 December 2015
N'000 N'000
Turnover 169,724,936 101,057,905
Cost of Sales (146,736,355) (80,582,972)
Profit before Tax 19,614,434 16,155,611
Taxation (5,218,496) (5,013,237)
Profit after Tax 14,395,938 11,142,372
Earnings per Share (K) 120 93
Proposed Dividend (K) 60 50
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