wfn.org | Sierra Leone Update

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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 (133
notes).

Note 132 by UMNS on June 2, 1997 at 15:28 Eastern (2920 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                          320(10-21-71B){132}
          New York (212) 870-3803                     June 2, 1997

Sierra Leone church leaders
to issue statement on coup

               by United Methodist News Service

     The bishop and president of the United Methodist Church in
Sierra Leone were among the church leaders meeting in Freetown
June 2 to work on a statement about the military coup in that West
African country.
     The Rev. Frances Nabieu, a United Methodist pastor from
Sierra Leone who currently is stranded in the United States
because of the coup, spoke June 1 with Bishop Joseph P. Humper
about the council of churches meeting.
     "Everybody is tense," he told United Methodist News Service.
"Nobody knows what is really happening."
     The coup, which started in the Freetown area May 25, has
resulted in widespread looting and near anarchy, according to news
reports. Humper himself was threatened briefly at the United
Methodist compound in the suburb of Kissy.
     A missionary for the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries, Doretha Brown, was confirmed to have been among about
900 people airlifted out of Sierra Leone May 30 by the U.S.
Marines. The U.S. Embassy in Freetown has been closed. As of June
2, however, board officials said they had not heard from Brown
yet.
     Nabieu said he was told that people did go to church on June
1, so "there was a little bit of movement." However, he added,
lack of food is becoming a problem because so many stores were
looted.
     Negotiations have been conducted to bring back Sierra Leone's
elected civilian president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. But Nabieu said he
was afraid that shooting from Nigerian gunboats and from a
Nigerian post in Hastings, inland, on June 2 will disrupt that
process.  
     According to Nabieu, groups in Sierra Leone ranging from
medical professionals to university students have condemned the
coup. The council of churches meeting, attended by Humper and the
Rev. Christian Peacock, president of the 85,000-member United
Methodist Church, is expected to do the same.
      Once their statement is made public, he noted, the lives of
church leaders could be threatened.
     Nabieu is principal of the Sierra Leone Theological Hall in
Freetown, which has 149 students. The college's offices have been
closed since the coup began, but contact has been made with most
of the students. "For now, I know everybody is safe," he said. "My
concern now is those who are in residence have no food."
     At his own home, Nabieu's wife, three children and two other
dependents also are safe, although there has been some harassment
and confiscation of property by soldiers.
                              #  #  #

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