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Bombings Continue in Congo Region
KARAWA, CONGO (January, 1999) - KARAWA – Bombings continue in the areas of Gemena and Businga, with three bombs dropped in Karawa, according to an unconfirmed report from the region. Gemena, located about 50 miles west of Karawa, is headquarters for the CEUM (Communaute Evangelique en Ubangi/Mongala).
"We have no word on the status of CEUM President Gbuda Luyada or any of the other church leaders or members," states a report from the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Chicago. "There are many wounded people in the Gemena State Hospital, with almost no medical supplies," the report continues.
Sources close to the activity in Businga, located approximately 50 miles east of Karawa and closer to the mission station of Loko, state that "the rural population is dying like flies because they drop bombs every two hours."
News from across the river in the Congo Republic (Brazzaville) is not any better. That is the area served by the ECC's sister denomination, the Swedish Covenant, which reported six missionaries temporarily trapped close to intensive fighting for a period of six days, eventually assisted by French security personnel.
"In November, six church leaders were killed when they went to a certain area to talk about peace and reconciliation," the World Mission report states. "The president of our sister church is in great danger. The church has lost at least three pastors, one evangelist and lots of members," the report continues, stating some were killed in one church "when government troops entered and shot people who were in prayer."
"Praying for our sisters and brothers in Congo is not just the 'only' thing we can do – but it is by far the most important thing we can do," said Barbara Johnson, ECC's World Mission director for Africa. "Pray that our church in Congo (Zaire) and our sister church in Congo (Brazzaville) might truly experience that 'we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.'"
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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