NEW YORK CITY --The General Board of Global Ministries has been forced to temporarily suspend its refugee and relief services in the Eastern region of Zaire because of increased fighting. Our other mission personnel in Zaire are not affected and will continue their work in the area.
We deeply regret that the tragic situation in the Eastern Region, which icludes the border cities of Bukavu, Goma, and Uvira, has forced us out of the area, but our faith is not shaken. The work we are doing there, God's work, is too important not to continue. We will return.
Global Ministries began major mission work in the Eastern Corridor of Zaire in 1994. Since then more than 200 of our "Volunteers for Africa," representing United Methodism in more than 11 countries, have worked with other denominational communities to provide countless hours of health care and to distribute material resources. Our volunteers also have built the Jerusalem Church, the United Methodist Guest House, and a school in Uvira; have renovated the United Methodist Polyclinics in Uvira and Bukavu; have provided services to three refugee camps; and have established the United Methodist Church Children's Village to care for youngsters orphaned by war.
Associate General Secretary Deborah Bass, and Sandra Swans of GBGM's Office of Technical Assistance were able to get into Uvira and Bukavu last week to assess the status of Children's Village and relationships with our partners in the region, and to help solve some of the logistical problems of delivering aid in these turbulent times.
They returned with eyewitness accounts of intense fighting, clinics overflowing with casualties, blocked roads strewn with land mines from Uvira to Bukavu, and hundreds of thousands of refugees abandoning the camps and running for their lives.
But even in the face of the horror that has befallen all the people victimized by this tragic war, there are signs of goodness and hope:
As of this writing, the Zairians on the local staff of Children's Village are still there caring for the 22 orphans housed in the village-- despite the threat from a Zairian military encampment set up nearby. In the event that the village is forced to close, the children housed there would come under the care of Zairian local authorities.
We have had to suspend construction on the church our volunteers, primarily members of the First United Methodist Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, began building in Goma but we have already advised our volunteer teams to look forward to returning to complete the project.
There are more than 500,000 refugees from ethnic wars in Rwanda and Burundi living in camps in southern Kivu, near Goma. This latest round of fighting is the result of the Zairian government's decision to disarm and expel ethnic Tutsis, who are not refugees and have lived in the southern Kivu for generations. The government says they are a threat to national security and has accused relief workers of providing them with arms.
The road between Uvira and Bukavu has been closed for nearly a month because of gunfire between Zaire and Rwanda, making it impossible to move supplies. In Goma, there is growing violence to the north, and the largest refugee camp , reportedly, is surrounded by unidentified gunmen.
The severity of the situation has prompted the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees to issue the highest level of alert, to assist in the evacuation of all aid personnel, and to request any remaining relief workers to remain in their homes.
Our missionaries from the area were evacuated earlier and now are at the Mission Resource Center in Atlanta -- Niels and Birgitte French are preparing for their new assignment and Lydia and Joseph Templeton expect to return to Zaire as soon as the situation stabilizes.
The last of the Board's personnel, Kinge Namanga, UMCOR Firewood Coordinator in Bukavu, also has been safely evacuated .
We have only been able to maintain sporadic contact with personnel of the Jerusalem United Methodist Church and Polyclinic in Uvira because of telecommunications interruptions caused by the chaos and cannot confirm their status at this time. We are, however, in contact with Bishop Onema Fama of the Zaire Central Conference as often as possible. Bishop Forrest Stith, project manager for Volunteers for Africa, is in Nairobi, Kenya and remains in close conatct with the Board.
After assessing the situation in the Eastern Region of Zaire, we recognize that we must accept the fact that much of our work there may have to begin anew when we return. But, not all of it.
Our presence there in a caring capacity to spread the word, already has brought hope and sustenance to hundreds of thousands of people ravaged by the daily degradations of war. Our presence there as God's children lending a hand to some other of His children has helped bring light to an area darkened by the smoke of bullets and bombs . That flame of love, caring, and hope that has been ignited in the hearts of some of the people whose lives have been touched cannot be extinguished by war.
Our work is vital. It is urgent. And it is God's will that it be done. We are already planning for the time when we return.
In the interim, the Board asks that all of you understand and help to explain the complex situation in the affected region of Zaire to others. There is no way to send supplies into the country at this time, but supplies still may be sent to the UMCOR Depot in Baldwin, Louisiana. We will advise volunteers of when the next teams will be sent to Zaire.
Please keep the people of that troubled region in your prayers. We will provide regular updates on the situation.
Contact: Charles Cole (212) 870-3785. E-mail: ccole@gbgm-umc.org.
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