AN archbishop from Sudan will be visiting Salisbury at the weekend to meet with the Bishop, preach in the cathedral and raise awareness of the country’s situation.

Dr Daniel Deng Bul Yak is Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, which has had links with the Salisbury Diocese for 37 years.

He is arriving in the UK tomorrow and will be taking part in a peace rally in Whitehall on Saturday before coming to Salisbury to preach on Sunday.

On Monday, alongside the Bishop of Salisbury Dr David Stancliffe and the Bishop of Sherborne Dr Graham Kings, he will travel back to London to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury.

He will then meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown for discussions.

The reason for his visit is to alert the wider world to the urgent need for sustained action to prevent Sudan returning to war.

The next 12 months will be critical for the future of the country, as it has been five years since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the civil war.

With elections in April and a referendum concerning the possible independence of the south scheduled for next January, urgent international engagement is key.

Bishop Stancliffe said: “Dr Deng’s meetings with the Prime Minister and Archbishop of Canterbury come at a crucial moment.

“If the CPA is to be made to work, it must be fully implemented and fully supported by guarantor governments, including the UK, now.”