Story number 1 for 30 Dec 1999

Topping the news today, Christian workers appear safe, but cautious in the wake of a military coup in the Ivory Coast last week. Ironically Lutheran Bible Translators Bill Behrend says most of their staff is in the Ivory Coast for safety concerns. “We have really gone to the Ivory Coast as a safe haven. The people who are there in the Ivory Coast are either have been in Sierra Leone or Liberia. Both of those countries have severe domestic disruption in the past years and we were able to find a place in Ivory Coast so we could transport some of the translators there and to continue the work.” According to Behrend, LBT is in the process of returning to these counties, but the transition has been delayed by the coup. “Because you have to be concerned about the safety of the people who are there. Certainly, for the time that the violence is going on, no one can really do any work during that period of time and there’s the distractions of being worried about a repeat of some unpleasant experiences from before. So, we pray very much for the restoration of calm in Ivory Coast.”