Story number 1 for 1 Apr 2003

(Central African Republic)–We begin today in the Central African Republic where another coup has crippled missions outreach in that beleaguered country. General Francois Bozize (boy-ZEE-zay) took over the country in what’s described as a ‘bloodless coup’. EFCA International Missions’ Tom Cairns says their workers left the country when it became unstable, and as a result, their work suffered. “Pillaging began and there was a tremendous loss of commercial properties and the various missions all losing major amounts of property. There’s literally nothing left for the missionaries to go back to.” Cairns says they’ve ruled out returning to their Fulani ministry before the fall, but there is hope. “As Bozize is taking power, he seems to be respected by a lot of people. There’s a lot of hope right now that maybe this will be a stable government. Unfortunately, it was not an elected government, and so many of the countries are all very unhappy about the fact that it was a coup against an elected government.”