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Rival tribes in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo, are respecting a cease-fire in that civil war-battered country. This allowed more than 12,000 people to move into refugee camps while giving missionary pilots the opportunity to evacuate some 1,700 Christians from the area in an eight-day cooperative effort. Coordinating the evacuation were pilots from Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in the U.S. and the Europe as well as Africa Inland Mission Air. The fate of a few MAF employee families is unknown following the most recent violence in the region. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio works with local partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to broadcast the gospel on FM stations in Boma, Bukavu and Kinshasa. Programs go out in English, French, Kikongo Fioti, Lingala, Luba and Swahili. Weekly programs in the Songe and Kikongo San Salvador languages also air from local FM stations in the country.

FOREIGNERS FLEE LIBERIAN CAPITAL AS FIGHTING ESCALATES

French military helicopters evacuated Americans and other foreigners from Monrovia, the besieged capital of Liberia, at dawn today, ferrying them out of embassy compounds to a ship in the Atlantic. The evacuations to the French navy ship came as Liberian soldiers reported more fighting on the western edge of the city, and explosions sounded in the distance. Rebels are fighting to overthrow Liberian President Charles Taylor. Helicopters left first from the white-walled, barbed-wire-topped ocean-side compound of the European Union (E.U.) which houses European diplomatic staff Liberia, evacuating 91 foreign residents. The aircraft then touched down at the neighboring U.S. Embassy compound, collecting about 100 Americans who had gathered overnight. EU forces stood guard with heavy weapons as aid workers, ducking against debris from the twirling blades, ran down a rocky hillside and climbed into the aircraft. Thousands of terrified civilians were on the move, heading for the city's eastern suburbs. Others bundled mattresses on their heads and rushed back to the U.S. Embassy complex, where Americans refused them entry during weekend fighting. The rebels' drive against Taylor gained momentum last Wednesday when a joint U.N-Sierra Leone court charged him with war crimes for allegedly aiding Sierra Leone rebels in their vicious 10-year terror campaign. (Associated Press/Reuters)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia, Liberia, in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa. The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. ELWA went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available. It is unknown how the latest fighting has affected ELWA. Two SIM families in Monrovia will be evacuated to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, early this week.

5 MEMBERS OF UNREGISTERED TURKMEN CHURCH FINED FOR MEETING

Five members of a nondenominational Protestant church in Abadan, Turkmenistan, were fined on Wednesday, June 4, for meeting as an unregistered community. "The authorities found us guilty of meeting without permission, but we are still going to meet, and they know this," said one church member. They were each fined 250,000 manats (US$47). The fines followed a raid on the private apartment where the believers were meeting four days earlier. Threats by the police and National Security Committee to confiscate the apartment, deport the owner and deprive the others of their livelihoods failed to materialize. At least seven Protestant churches across Turkmenistan were raided last month in a new crackdown. One church member wrote an open letter to Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, calling for sweeping changes to the country's religious policy, an end to the repression of believers and an end to the system whereby an Orthodox clergyman can restrict the rights of other faiths and denominations. (Forum 7 News Service)

AMERICAN MAY FACE PRISON FOR ATTEMPTING TO DELIVER AID TO RUSSIA

An American who was arrested at a Russian airport March 29 for allegedly smuggling contraband currency into the country has started a hunger strike to protest his case. Andrew Okhotin was carrying $48,000 in humanitarian aid destined for 100 Christian families in Russia, openly declaring the money upon arriving at the Shermetyevo Airport. A Russian customs official filed a protocol stating that Okhotin had legally declared all of the charitable donations, but before he could leave the customs area, he was arrested, the money was confiscated and he was subjected to 12 hours of interrogation. Okhotin's requests for food, water and the opportunity to call the American Embassy were repeatedly denied, and he was placed under house arrest in Moscow. In a recent letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Okhotin said during the interrogation that he was offered a "deal" if he paid up to $15,000. However, he refused to accept any offers and could face up to five years in prison. Still under house arrest in Moscow, Okhotin has regularly conferred with attorneys, American Embassy personnel and Russian officials in a futile attempt to have the charitable contributions released so they can be delivered to the people in need. With all legal options apparently exhausted, Okhotin began a hunger strike on Wednesday, May 21. (Assist News Service)

NEW HOPE IN SIGHT FOR JORDANIAN CHRISTIAN WIDOW

One of Jordan's top law firms filed a request this week for a change in the legal guardianship of Christian widow Siham Qandah's two minor children. Qandah's attorneys are expected to produce evidence before an Amman court of Islamic law that her children's court-authorized Muslim guardian has embezzled at least 13,000 dinars (US$18,066) from a trust fund established for her daughter, Rawan, 15, and son, Fadi, 14. The children's father, a soldier in the Jordanian army, died in Kosovo in 1994 while serving with U.N. peacekeeping forces, leaving military benefits that the children were to inherit at age 18. The father had reportedly converted to Islam in 1991. Lawyers associated with Jordan's royal family have obtained proof that the children's guardian, an estranged uncle, has illegally appropriated more than half of the U.N. trust fund. "As a Muslim, I am very ashamed that this was done in the name of Islam," said Prince Mired bin Raed, commenting on the case. "This has nothing to do with religion, it is not even a human rights case. It is a simple case of fraud done in a very manipulative way." Qandah's new lawyers are fighting for a court decision to cancel the uncle's legal guardianship, thereby nullifying court orders for Qandah to surrender her children to him. (Compass)

NEPAL MINISTRY RESCUES GIRLS FROM FORCED PROSTITUTION

Poor families in Nepal are often duped into giving their daughters into the hands of those who force them into prostitution and bonded labor, but now at least one ministry in Nepal is helping these girls find a new way of life. The girls are trafficked as if they were "illegal drugs," spending lives filled with abuse and contracting deadly diseases. Younger children are not safe either. Some as young as 8 years old are sold as bonded laborers to work in traveling carnivals. Once trapped, they are given only enough food to keep them alive. Fellow workers often beat and rape them, and escape is nearly impossible. Those who do manage to escape are often ostracized in their home villages. Recognizing their plight, two young women formed a ministry in Nepal in 2001 to help those who have escaped the girl-traffickers. They provide shelter, food and vocational training. The girls not only learn to support themselves in an honorable way, they also are shown the light of the gospel through Bible studies. Many have already come to the Lord. (Missions Insider)

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