Covenant News

Covenanters Safely Exit Embattled Bangui

BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (October 28, 2002) - A group of Evangelical Covenant Church missionaries and other visitors from the United States have safely left Bangui following three days of intense fighting on the outskirts of the city, Covenant News Service has learned.

Fighting broke out mid-afternoon last Friday in Bangui following earlier attacks by rebel forces in the northern communities of Bogangolo and Damara, although no Covenant missionaries are stationed in those areas. Libyan-backed loyalist forces battled with rockets and machine guns on Saturday to push back the assaults by rebels linked to a former army chief seeking to overthrow the government of elected President Ange Felix Patasse.

The Covenant missionaries had hoped to leave Bangui Sunday morning, but the scheduled Air France flight was cancelled due to the unsafe conditions, said Peter Ekstrand, who with wife, Cindy, serve as Africa regional coordinators for the Department of World Mission.

"Visitors from upcountry CAR and from the United States, who were staying at two guest houses in Bangui, were able to drive out of Bangui around noon today through an alternate route," said Keith Gustafson, Africa country coordinator. "The Boda-Yaloke section was rough with some stops at rain barriers and one flat tire," one email report stated.

Good news in northeastern Congo came last week in the form of 18 metric tons of clothing and supplies delivered to fleeing Congolese by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The shipment included used clothing, soap, waxed cloth, medicine and fuel, according to Ekstrand. UNICEF had discovered that more than 2,000 families, including some 14,000 individuals, had fled into the forests of northeastern Congo and had no clothing to wear.

More information will be posted to this Covenant news site as it becomes available.

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