wfn.org | Sierra Leone Coup

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (121
notes).

Note 121 modified by UMNS on May 28, 1997 at 09:36 Eastern (4057 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                           309(10-21-71B){121}
	    New York (212) 870-3803                          May 27, 1997

Sierra Leone bishop faces
armed men during military coup

			by United Methodist News Service

	The United Methodist Bishop of Sierra Leone was held briefly
at gunpoint May 26 after the military there seized power from the elected
civilian government.
	Bishop Joseph P. Humper, leader of the 85,000-member church, was at the
United Methodist compound in Kissy, a suburb of Freetown, when the incident
occurred.
	The Rev. Ray Buchanan, a United Methodist who is co-director of the Society
of St. Andrew -- which has food projects in Sierra Leone -- said Humper told
him that 10 armed men approached the compound around 4 a.m., shot the locks
off and gained entrance.
	The men demanded the bishop hand over keys to the vehicles on the compound.
When Humper told them the keys were with the drivers, who were at their own
homes, they threatened to kill him, according to Buchanan.
	After holding him at gunpoint for a short period, the men finally left
without the vehicles.
	The military coup -- which has been condemned by the United Nations,
Organization of African Unity and various nations -- took place May 25.
According to Reuters News Service, coup leaders said they wanted to bring
rebels of the Revolutionary United Front into the government to consolidate
peace after the country's civil war.
	Buchanan said the bishop told him that rocket-propelled grenades had whizzed
over the United Methodist compound once the coup started. He called the
situation "grave."
	In a telephone conversation early on May 27, Humper advised the Rev. Frances
Nabieu -- a Sierra Leone pastor who had been itinerating in the United States
for the past two months -- not to return yet, Buchanan reported. Nabieu, who
is principal of the Sierra Leone Theological Hall, had been scheduled to fly
back May 25 before his flight was cancelled.
	"The bishop did not know the condition of the United Methodist office that is
right downtown (in Freetown) within a block and a half of the American
embassy, which was hit by shellfire," Buchanan added.
	Although Sierra Leone has been plagued by civil war, the Freetown area was
always considered the safest part of Sierra Leone, he noted, explaining why
the coup there was such a surprise.
	The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries currently has one missionary
stationed in Sierra Leone.  Although board officials had not heard from
Doretha Brown, who serves at the Hartford School for Girls in Moyamba, it was
assumed she was safe.
	Buchanan, who preached at the United Methodist Annual Conference in Sierra
Leone in February, said he had noticed a marked difference from when he had
visited the country a year earlier.
	"The church was doing much better," he explained. "There was a lot of
optimism and hope since the fighting had come to an end."However, because no
agreement had been formalized, "there was some real doubt in people's minds as
to how long the peace would last," he added.
	The Society of St. Andrew, a national nonprofit hunger relief ministry based
in Big Island, Va., raised $30,000 in 1996 to assist United Methodist clergy
members forced to flee their homes in Sierra Leone because of the civil war.
	An additional $14,000 raised was earmarked to ship 33,216 pounds of donated
dehydrated diced potatoes for distribution in refugee camps throughout the
country. Half of the potatoes were shipped last November.
	Because of the coup, Buchanan is now uncertain of the fate of the second
shipment, which was to arrive in Sierra Leone at any time. That shipment, of
16,000 to 17,000 pounds of potatoes -- would provide more than 300,000
servings of food.
	The coup also affects the upcoming shipment of a 40-foot container of worship
and theological supplies which will be loaded June 19-20 at the United
Methodist Virginia Annual Conference. He said the materials probably will be
stored "until it's safer to ship the container."
# # #

	

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