Story number 3 for 31 Dec 2002

(Ivory Coast)–Rebels in Ivory Coast said this week a U.S. missionary caught behind their lines was safe and well and would soon be handed over to the Red Cross so he could escape. The U.S. embassy in the West African country declined to comment further on the whereabouts of William Foster, a Lutheran missionary who had been living for the past eight years near the Liberian border. The area has fallen into instability since a failed coup in October. Many missionaries have since evacuated the area.