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CEUM Leaders Provide Insight into War's Impact
By Craig Pinley
CHICAGO, IL (April 8, 2003) - No one likely traveled as far to attend the 2002
Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) in Keystone,
Colorado, as did Nubea Kafi, Duale Langba and Fohle Lygunda, pastors and
administrators of the Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM).
Nubea, Duale and Fohle served last year as pastors-in-residence at Covenant
churches in Michigan, Colorado and Massachusetts. During last year's Annual
Meeting, they formally greeted delegates, were part of an interview during
a business session and engaged in meetings with many others as they shared
their insights from three months spent in the United States. The
accompanying photo shows ECC President Glenn Palmberg and Covenant World
Relief Director Jim Sundholm with (from left) Nubea, Duale and Fohle.
It's a long way from Congo to Keystone - a 16-hour flight covering more
than 9,000
miles that includes a stop in Paris - but distance doesn't begin to
describe how far this trio has come. Five years ago, CEUM's leadership was
struggling to keep the church functioning as civil unrest forced the
evacuation of Covenant missionaries. In October 1996, a rebel army
supported by Rwandan and Ugandan troops launched an attack
against the ruler of Congo (then Zaire), Mobutu Sese Seko. Covenant
missionaries were gone by the time Laurent Kabila assumed power in
mid-1997.
The history of unrest and conflict in Congo is a lengthy one. Since 1937,
Covenant missionaries had been a constant presence, offering financial and
other resources in an attempt to improve the quality of life in various
areas of Congo. Those resources left - for the most part - when the
missionaries were forced to leave Congo. Earlier this year, Covenant
missionaries in the Central African Republic left over concerns for safety
following a military coup. And violence erupted again just a week ago with
the reported massacre of some 1,000 civilians in northeastern Congo.
As some of the leaders of the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) prepare to come
in a few days to the United States for a number of weeks of study,
interviews conducted with other CEUM leaders following last year's Annual
Meeting in Colorado may prove of interest in providing perspective on
events in that part of the world.
Craig Pinley of the Department of Communication of the Evangelical Covenant
Church conducted the interviews. Those interviewed include Nubea Kafi, CEUM
vice president; Fohle Lygunda, director of the CEUM Cabinet; and CEUM
Pastor Duale Langba. To read those accounts, select the following links:
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