Covenant News

Covenant Missionaries in Bangui Report Calm Conditions

KINSHASA, CONGO (January 18, 2001) - Missionaries of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Bangui report all is calm in that community, located just across the river from Congo where the atmosphere remains tense following the death of Congo President Laurent Kabila. The president was wounded Tuesday during a palace coup attempt and died later, according to government sources.

Mark and Dena Thornbloom and three-year-old son, Ben, are completing a short-term missionary project in Bangui in the Central African Republic, across the Ubangi River that separates the two countries. Repeated attempts to contact other Covenant sources in the Kinshasa area continue to be thwarted by the intentional interruption of communications into and out of Congo.

Americans in the region reportedly have been advised to remain indoors as Kabila military personnel plead for the public to remain calm. Heavily armed government troops patrol the streets of Congo's capital city.

Kabila has been fighting a civil war since August 1998, when rebel forces backed by former allies Rwanda and Uganda turned against him. In the war's early stages, the rebels reached the outskirts of Kinshasa before being turned back by Kabila's army, which is now supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Covenant News Service will post information concerning any impact on Covenant ministries in the region as soon as that information becomes available.

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