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SEARCH: Liberia, missionaries

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                         212(10-21-71){2858}
          New York (212) 870-3803                   April 8, 1996

Missionaries to evacuate Liberia
as intense fighting erupts in capital

                by United Methodist News Service

     United Methodist missionaries in Liberia were expected to be
evacuated April 8 or 9 as fighting continued in the capital city
of Monrovia.
     Zebediah Marewangepo, an executive with the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries' World Division, said he received a
call April 5 from missionaries at the United Methodist compound
in Monrovia, saying they had been advised to move to the U.S.
Embassy.
     U.S. missionaries stationed in Monrovia are Janice McLain of
Salem, Ore., World Division treasurer, and Barbara and William
Daniel of Decatur, Ga., with their two children, William, 9, and
Chelsea, 5. Mr. Daniel teaches at a theology school and Mrs.
Daniel is a primary school teacher.
     At the time, "they could not get out because the fighting
was just outside the compound," according to Marewangepo.
     Later, when the missionaries did leave the compound, their
cars and other items of value were confiscated along the way to
the embassy.
     Marewangepo said the missionaries called him April 7 from
the overcrowded U.S. embassy compound to report they expected to
evacuate to Freetown, Sierra Leone. They then will return to the
United States, he added.
     According to the Associated Press, battles between
government troops and rebels loyal to Roosevelt Johnson, one of
the faction leaders, intensified April 6 when the government
tried to drive Johnson from his home in the eastern suburb of
Sinkor. Johnson is wanted in connection with the killing of
several members of a rival group.
     On April 7, the fighting moved downtown, according to a BBC
report, where Johnson and his supporters were believed to have
taken a major army barracks.
     Thousands of residents have left Monrovia in the wake of
this recent fighting. The airport also has been closed.
     Marewangepo said United Methodist Bishop Arthur Kulah was
supposed to have flown to the United States over the weekend, but
apparently did not get out. Kulah is scheduled to attend the
United Methodist Council of Bishops meeting April 12 in Denver,
as well as General Conference, which follows there April 16-26.
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