Story number 1 for 13 Jun 2003

(Liberia)–A potential humanitarian catastrophe in Liberia’s capital tops the news today. This, after days of fighting between government forces and rebels, advancing to Monrovia’s outskirts. Amongst the Westerners fleeing were missionaries, says SIM’s John Shea. “They had kind of ‘trigger points’ where they would decide to leave. They took a commercial flight to the next country over, the Ivory Coast. But, Dr. Rick Sacra stayed behind. He’s working with the ELWA hospital and also taking care of our mission business and administration there.” Shea explains why prayer is essential at this juncture.
“They’re having difficulty getting basic supplies. They want to keep the radio station on the air as long as they can. They’ll need some fuel pretty quickly; they’re rationing their fuel right now. In the long-term, we hope that there will be a peace negotiation and plan, as agreed, and that it’ll be carried out, and that things will normalize somewhat in the country, after about 15 years of various upsets.”