wfn.org | Presbyterian Missionary Hopeful in Wake of Zaire Takeover

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

21-May-1997 
97126 
 
               Presbyterian Missionary Hopeful in  
                      Wake of Zaire Takeover 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Presbyterian missionary David Law is going to stay in 
Zaire, which was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo by rebel 
leader Laurent Kabila after his forces completed a stunning takeover of the 
country May 18. 
 
     Law is going to stay in Zaire despite the fact that his father, also a 
missionary, was killed there in 1964 by rebels trying to oust the regime of 
Mobutu Sese Seko -- rebels who were the forerunners of Kabila, who finally 
toppled the brutal 30-year dictatorship of Mobutu. 
 
     And he is going to stay, despite being beaten and threatened with 
summary execution by retreating government soldiers in Zaire just weeks 
ago.  Law is going to stay in Zaire because, after living and working there 
much of his life, it feels too much like home.   
 
     More important, he and his wife, Leveda, are staying because "our 
church needs to be involved in the world -- to have a vision of the gospel 
that spreads beyond our own borders." 
 
     Law, an engineer who helps develop hydroelectric systems in the 
sprawling Kasai region of the country, was accosted April 16 by "panicky" 
government troops who had just been ambushed by rebel forces.  They came to 
Law's mission station looking for vehicles and fuel and "were fully 
intending, I'm sure, to kill me."  One soldier ("an angel"), looking for 
fuel for the vehicles, led Law away and, as it turns out, to safety. 
 
     Law, in Louisville for previously scheduled consultations with 
Worldwide Ministries Division staffers, told the Presbyterian News Service 
he finds it "ironic" that he is sympathetic to Kabila's forces after seeing 
his father murdered by the rebel leader's predecessors 23 years ago. 
"Kabila is trying to make things better in Zaire," Law explained.  "Those 
who killed my father were an undisciplined lot who were only interested in 
seizing power from those who already had it." 
 
     He acknowledged that Kabila is an unknown quantity, but said he has 
seen no evidence of the atrocities that some have reported as Kabila's 
forces swept across Zaire.  "I'm working in an area -- the two Kasais -- 
where the people have been in economic revolt for four years," Law said. 
"So when they are told they are jumping from one frying pan into another, 
they respond,  Maybe, but we just want a different frying pan.'" 
 
     Many observers predicted house-to-house fighting in Kinshasa, the 
nation's capital, as the eight-month war reached its conclusion.  Such a 
last-ditch battle could have had devastating effects on Zaire's already 
impoverished people.  "Hardship is extreme in the best of times," Law 
noted.  "I'm baffled at how people survive anyway." 
 
     But as Mobutu gave up and fled the country hours before Kabila's 
triumphal entry into Kinshasa, the deposed ruler's troops melted away, 
either fleeing into the countryside or laying down their arms and welcoming 
Kabila's victorious army. 
 
     Asked what U.S. Presbyterians can do, Law said, "Pray."  Beyond that, 
he added, Presbyterians can support the denomination's missions in the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo -- health-care ministries, educational 
institutions, relief and development projects, evangelism.  "The 
infrastructure of the country will have to be rebuilt," Law said, "and 
there will be far more needs than we can afford to fill for many years." 
 
     And some things, Law concluded, "will just have to be sorted out by 
the Zairians -- that's where our prayers will be most helpful." 

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