Killing of health worker widely condemned

Sister Veronika Racková died on May 20, after being shot by suspected Sudan People’s Liberation Army soldiers, as she rushed an expectant mother to a health centre in Yei in the early hours of the morning.

The Catholic Diocese of Yei declared a day of mourning, after Sr. Veronika died from her wounds in a Kenyan hospital in the capital Nairobi.

I am deeply saddened by this senseless act and send my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Sister Veronika Racková.

“I am deeply saddened by this senseless act and send my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Sister Veronika Racková,” said the humanitarian coordinator, Eugene Owusu, in a statement issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “I welcome steps being taken by the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and urge them to act swiftly.”

The nun, who was also a doctor, was travelling in an ambulance with a pregnant woman when some SPLA night patrol forces fired live bullets into her car. A bullet passed through the door, hitting her hip at around one in the morning on May 16.

“She died in pain for the service of the poor in the republic of South Sudan, she died as a martyr,” said Fr. Emmanuel Lodongo Sebit, Secretary General of the Diocese in a requiem mass.

Sr. Veronika, who was 58 years old and an experienced doctor, was born in Slovakia and came to South Sudan in 2010 a year before the nation’s independence. She worked in nursing, especially caring for people with HIV and AIDS and various disabilities.

Last week, the government confirmed it had arrested three SPLA soldiers on suspicion of being linked to the shooting of the sister. They are undergoing investigations.

Stephen Lado Onesimo, the State Information Minister, condemned the incident as a “barbaric and indisciplined act of the suspected soldiers.” He added that ambulances are not supposed to stop in their duties.

“The investigators are doing their best to see to it that this case is investigated well and the criminals are to be taken to court. We would like to see justice is done. We are not going to keep quiet as government,” he promised.

Lado described Sr. Veronika “a medical doctor, known to many citizens and government officials who had been serving the people in the state for years”, adding that the state government and its citizens stand with the Catholic Church.

The Centre for Democracy and Development Programme Officer, Dara Felix, called for the army to be relocated outside of town, to minimise crimes and fear among the population.

Dara reminded the police and other security organs that “they have a role in protecting the people of South Sudan and their property”, and warned that the confidence of the citizens is running out.

“They must see these people in courts of law and justice must prevail. We need to see strong commitments now to end impunity in our country,” he said.

During years spent offering medical help to the needy, Sr. Veronika had opened a treatment programme for mentally disabled people and patients with epilepsy and leprosy and had offered women antenatal care and birthing support.

She studied medicine at Charles University in Prague and was the provincial Superior Sister Missionary congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit in Slovakia from 2004 - 2010.

During an international career, she worked in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Ireland, England, as well as Indonesia and Ghana, where she received a medal from the minister of health in 1988 for being the best doctor in Africa.

In South Sudan, she worked in many regions, including Kajo-Keji, Lainya, Morobo and Yei counties, but she modestly played down her role in saving lives, saying: “I have done nothing.”

In his homily during the requiem mass, Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe of Yei Catholic Diocese described the death of Sr Veronica as “very, very tragic”.

“Sister Veronica was a model among young people here – boys and girls and everybody. Let us support one another and look at the one who is weak and say ‘brother, sister take courage’,” Bishop Lodu told emotional mourners in a mass.

We will never forget her. She is a heroine.

Among the congregation, many expressed their loss and regret for the killing. “It was a painful death. We all felt it in the diocese as a family. We will never forget her. She is a heroine,” said Taban Archangelo, choir member in the parish.

Perina Alex, who worked at the Yei Catholic diocese added: “The late sister was a person of integrity, a person who valued human life more than her personal needs,” she said.

Four days after her killing, it was announced that her body would be flown from Nairobi to Yei in South Sudan for burial, rather than holding it in Kenya as planned.

Speaking to the mourners, Father Zachariah, recalled how he had helped Sister Veronika out of the car where she was attacked. “When we opened the door of the car, she said ‘Abuna (father) I’m dying, the bullet is painful – these people shot me, I have done nothing’,” he told the congregation.

Father Zachariah and other members of the church added their voices to widespread outrage, calling for justice. “Arrest them, catch them, judge them so that you release the nation from insecure elements which are always around our people.”