wfn.org | U.S. Religious Leaders Receive Freed Soldiers

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
  Stephanie Gadlin, Rainbow/PUSH, 773-256-2758
E-mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www. ncccusa.org

U.S. RELIGIOUS LEADERS RECEIVE FREED SOLDIERS, BRING THEM 
OUT
Group Led by Jesse Jackson, Joan Campbell Accompanies the 
Soldiers to Germany

54NCC5/2/99   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 May 2, 1999, BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, and ZAGREB, Croatia 
- The three U.S. soldiers captured March 31 and held by Serb 
forces were released this morning to the 19-member 
delegation of U.S. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders 
whose humanitarian mission to Belgrade had sought their 
freedom.

 After the formalities were completed in Belgrade, the 
soldiers and religious leaders departed for the border 
between Yugoslavia and Croatia, where they walked across, 
hand-in-hand with the delegation's co-leaders, the Rev. 
Jesse Jackson, Founder and President of the Rainbow/PUSH 
Coalition, and the Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, General 
Secretary, National Council of Churches.

 They continued on together to the Zagreb airport, where 
the soldiers and key delegation leaders boarded a plane for 
Germany.  Other delegation members followed in a second 
plane, which developed engine trouble and had to turn back 
to Zagreb.  They were making arrangements to join the others 
in Germany as quickly as possible.

 The delegation's day began officially at 6:30 a.m. with 
a news conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade.  
There, the group presented its departure statement, which 
pleads, "The violence suffered by all people in Yugoslavia 
must end.  Bombing and more war cannot bring peace."  
(Complete text follows.)

Then the delegation went to meet the soldiers.  "They 
came in and stood at attention with great dignity and self 
respect and they were quite self-contained and in control," 
reported the Rev. Roy Lloyd, NCC Broadcast News Director, 
who accompanied the delegation.  "The Rev. Jackson made a 
statement that praised the government for this bold step 
that was made without any conditions, and the military 
leader under whose care the soldiers were kept said they had 
been models of decorum and had been treated within the 
boundaries of the Geneva Accord.

"Then the Revs. Jackson and Campbell and Congressman 
(Rod) Blagojevich sat down with the military officials and 
signed official documents releasing the soldiers to the 
religious mission to Belgrade."
 
The Rev. Jackson told the young men they could "stand 
down," because they were now free men, came over to the 
table where they were embraced and prayed over, and then 
each was given opportunity to call his family.  "The 
soldiers and religious mission then departed by road for the 
Yugo-Croatian border, where the transition took place very 
smoothly," the Rev. Lloyd reported.

"When the soldiers were brought in," he said, "there 
were tears of joy in the eyes of those present.  When the 
young men were embraced, and prayed for, and touched, and 
held, all cried tears of joy for their safe protection while 
in captivity and for their release."

At the border, the three soldiers - Staff Sgt. Andrew 
A. Ramirez of Los Angeles, Calif.; Staff Sgt. Christopher J. 
Stone of Smiths Creek, Mich., and Specialist Steven M. 
Gonzales of Huntsville, Texas - told news media "they had 
developed friendships with their captors, felt fondly about 
them and had prayed with them before they left," he 
continued.  "Christopher Stone said he had told one of the 
soldiers looking after him that he hoped that war would not 
separate them and that the two countries and the two armed 
forces would not be forced to be enemies."

The team crossed the border into Croatia and came to 
the Zagreb airport, where another news conference was held.  
Reported the Rev. Lloyd, "The Rev. Jackson repeated his call 
for some sort of positive response from the U.S. government 
to what was an unconditional release of the soldiers, as a 
sign of good will which could leave to dialogue rather than 
conflict."

The Rev. Jackson noted that he carried with him a 
letter from Yugoslavia's President, Slobodan Milosevic for 
President Clinton, expressing his willingness to meet 
anywhere the U.S. President decided was appropriate.  He 
reported that President Milosevic had pledged to discuss 
returning the refugees to Kosovo, their safety and the use 
of an international force to protect their safety and that 
of Serbian people, and also to be sure violence was not done 
to anyone in Yugoslavia, the Rev. Lloyd recounted.

He continued that at each of the day's news 
conferences, the Rev. Jackson praised Dr. Campbell for her 
ability to put together such a broad and inclusive religious 
mission to Belgrade and thanked her for her tireless efforts 
which have kept the focus on the religious mission and 
brought about the release of the captives.  Dr. Campbell, in 
turn, stressed that the group's mission was religious and 
not political.  She said each of the delegation members -- 
Muslim, Jewish, Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic and 
Protestant - had played a key role in the release of 
captives through their actions, their conversations and 
their prayers.
-end-

This story was reported by Roy Lloyd and written by Carol 
Fouke, both of the NCC Communication Department.
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