Story number 1 for 18 May 2000

Topping today’s news, we turn to the Congo where Rwanda and Uganda are trying to avert a wider war. The two sides agreed to pull back from an area where recent fighting has cropped up. Efforts at peace are frail and, according to Grace Ministries International’s Sam Vinton, desperately needed. “I feel that people are tired of the fighting, with no results, so, to a certain extent, I am optimistic things can be worked out, at least on paper. Now, how to implement that in a country which is so large with all these roving bands out there, that will be the next issue to be dealt with.” Although the fighting has hampered GMI’s efforts to continue their evangelistic work, Vinton insists that: “…it is encouraging to know that the national Christian leaders are going on with their work to the best that they can in light of the situation. We feel that we just have to keep going and being the ones there to encourage, but we certainly are not in the position to put any of our missionaries in those areas where there is no security.”