Instability Forces Most Missionaries To Evacuate Ivory Coast
A number of mission agencies and ministries have reported on the evacuation of their missionaries out of the war-torn Ivory Coast following a resumption of fighting, ethnic conflicts and lack of progress in resolving a two-year-old division of the West African nation.
In a report by HCJB World Radio (Heralding Christ Jesus’ Blessings), the Colorado-based ministry compiled a list of several mission agencies that were forced to evacuate their missionaries after a Nov. 6 bombing of an area occupied by French military peacekeepers triggered the immediate French destruction of the Ivorian air force and subsequent retaliation against French nationals throughout the southern part of the country.
HCJB, which airs the gospel in more than 120 languages and dialects, works with partners around the globe and now has ministries in more than 100 countries.
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One of its partners, Serving in Missions (SIM), reported that all SIM staff members and their families were evacuated from Ivory Coast last week. According to Jon Shea, SIM’s deputy international director for West Africa, eight persons from the northern city of Bouaké left by land for Bamako, Mali, on Saturday, Nov. 13. In addition, a group of 21 SIM missionaries, along with personnel from Christian and Missionary Alliance and other mission agencies working in the coastal city of Abidjan, left via a jointly chartered aircraft on Tuesday, Nov. 16.
Both groups from SIM have since met in Dakar, Senegal, for debriefing.
“All of the missionaries will either be redeployed in West Africa, or they will begin home leave,” Shea said. “No one is going back to Ivory Coast for now.”
Colorado-based Conservative Baptist International (CBI), which owns the International Christian Academy (ICA)—a school for missionary children—reported that a total of 46 foreigners (including the eight persons from SIM) from the ICA outside of Bouaké were evacuated from the country on Saturday, Nov. 13. The school, which is operated by a consortium of mission agencies, had reopened this fall with a limited enrollment after being closed two years ago.
CBI spokesman Rick Allen said two ICA staff members have remained at the ICA campus along with French forces. “The rest of our staff have gone up to Mali, Senegal or the U.S.,” he said. “The only other missionaries staying in Ivory Coast are way up in the northern part of the country at the hospital in Ferkessédougou. Up until now things have been quite calm in that area, and they’ve been able to carry on life as usual.”
Florida-based New Tribes Mission announced on Tuesday, Nov. 16, that all of its missionaries had safely left Ivory Coast in the wake of the increased unrest and anti-foreign violence. The mass exodus of foreigners from the country had made evacuation difficult and prolonged as roads and flights are congested, but through the U.S. and French embassies, NTM was able to make arrangements to evacuate the missionaries.
Ruth Hubbard of Wycliffe Bible Translators’ communications department said all of the ministry’s personnel in Ivory Coast were evacuated this weekend, including 15 adults and three children. All are Americans except for one Canadian couple. They are now either in France or Mali, awaiting further instructions. “It was a pretty low-level evacuation,” Hubbard said. “There were no problems, no incidents . . . just small logistical problems . . . with so many people trying to leave the capital. Everything went well, and everyone is safe and fine.”
Meanwhile, HCJB itself reported that all three missionary couples serving with HCJB World Radio in Abidjan also have been safely evacuated from the country, including Sub-Saharan Africa Director Lee Sonius and family, missionaries on loan from SIM. They arrived in the U.S. this weekend for home ministry assignment along with another American couple. A French couple with HCJB World Radio returned to their home in Paris, France, last week via a French military flight.
Local U.N. officials reported that more than 19,000 Ivory Coast civilians have crossed into Liberia since the violent upheavals, while more than 5,000 foreigners were flown out of the country over the course of six days.
HCJB also reported that as the refugee crossings into Liberia continued Sunday, local people were emptying their own food stocks to feed hungry, exhausted newcomers. Albert Farnga, a local official says that villagers have been reduced to stripping rice out of the fields before it was ready for harvest “to save our brothers and sisters.”
On Sunday, U.N. helicopters escorted by peacekeepers flew the first food aid to the Liberian border town of Butuo, which has been overwhelmed by thousands of refugees from Ivory Coast. Children swarmed the helicopters, setting down in a soccer field, before the blades even stopped turning -- desperate to get at the grain, oil and beans inside.
Butuo, just two miles from the border, has received the largest share of the 19,000 refugees crossing from Ivory Coast.
