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A Brazilian Protestant missionary who publicly expressed concern about Mozambique's alleged trade in human organs, especially from children, has been murdered. The body of 53-year old Duraci Edinger, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mozambique's northern town of Nampula, was discovered last week in her home near a bloodstained hammer after neighbors alerted local police. Edinger was among a group of missionaries who raised alarm bells in 2001 about an alleged organ smuggling ring operating in the impoverished African nation. She later told church leaders she had received death threats from suspected organ smugglers following these revelations. Edinger had been working in Mozambique since 1998.

Other Christians investigating the plight of donor children also have been threatened. On Thursday, Feb. 26, four Roman Catholic missionary nuns living in the same town said they narrowly escaped an armed ambush after presenting "evidence that local children are being killed so that their organs can be sold." Missionaries say that local officials are involved in a cover-up, and the Mozambican Human Rights League also has made allegations of organ trafficking. However, Mozambique's authorities deny the charges. A preliminary investigation into the allegations, included exhuming 14 bodies in the Nampula region, brought no evidence of organ harvesting. Local authorities said the murder of Edinger has nothing to do with exposing trafficking in human organs, but with a recent theft in her church. She reportedly had been questioned by police who were seeking to determine the thief's identity. (Assist News Service)

TURKMENISTAN OFFICIALS SEIZE CARPET TO PAY CHURCH MEMBERS' FINE

Officials in the city of Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, have seized property from members of a local Baptist church to pay a fine imposed last year for unregistered worship in a private apartment. Yelena Lemeshko received a court summons on Jan. 22 for nonpayment of her fine for attending the service. Her husband, Vladimir, was also fined and the amount was deducted from his wages at his job in a local factory. On Jan. 26 the court executor came to the Lemeshko family apartment and warned Yelena that her belongings would be confiscated in lieu of the unpaid fine if she did not pay by Jan. 31. Then he confiscated a carpet hanging on the wall clock. When the Lemeshkos complained that the confiscated items were worth more than the sum of the fine, Ilbaev replied, "We'll value them at the amount we need." The fines were imposed in May 2003 after officials broke up the Turkmenbashi Baptist church service in the home of a church member. Those attending the service were subsequently summoned to a hearing of the administrative commission where they were each fined the equivalent of US$12. (The average salary in Turkmenistan is estimated to at US$30/month.) The country has one of the harshest systems of state control over religious life of any of the former Soviet republics. (Forum 18 News Service)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with Back to the Bible to air Christian Turkmen programs. Twice-weekly broadcasts began airing from an undisclosed site outside of Turkmenistan in 2001 and moved to daily programming in 2003.

PROTESTANTS DENOUNCE DISCRIMINATION BY SPANISH GOVERNMENT

In a letter sent to the European parliament as well as Spanish parliamentary groups and international institutions, Spanish evangelicals denounced the alarming lack of religious neutrality on the part of the Spanish government. The Federation of Religious Evangelical Entities of Spain is seeking international support to lobby the parliament (and the government that will emerge after March 14 elections) to rectify the discriminatory policy against religious minorities. The federation represents more than 800,000 evangelical Christians from more than 2,000 churches in the country. The discrimination affecting religious minorities in Spain for centuries has yet to be fully resolved by any democratic government, said Mariano Blázquez, the federation's executive secretary and legal representative. "After 25 years of the constitutional period, very few things have improved in the religious freedom scenario in our country." He pointed to the limited right of Protestants to demonstrate in public spaces, difficult access to public centers for religious activities, and the fact that Protestant Churches are not granted the same tax exemptions as the Roman Catholic Church. (Adventist Press Service)

2 CHRISTIAN GROUPS PARTNER TO REACH RUSSIAN ORPHANS

It's not every day a Russian orphanage receives a new children's gym. But that's a reality for the Kotlas Baby Home in Russia's Arkhangelsk region. Friends of Russian Orphans (FORO) financed the new gym. FORO co-founder Lisa Wurster says it's part of their mission. "The purpose of FOFO is to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to Russian orphans and their caregivers through practical assistance and friendship programs. Really, what we're trying to do is provide both material and spiritual assistance to the thousands of children who remain in the orphanages who aren't going to be adopted." FORO works in partnership with Adoption Associates in the region to help streamline the adoption process for prospective parents. (Mission Network News)

SOME MINISTRIES KEEP STAFF MEMBERS IN HAITI DESPITE CIVIL UNREST

While many mission organizations have evacuated their staff from Haiti due to ongoing civil unrest, a number of ministries are continuing their outreach. Tim DeVries of the Bible League says the ministry's office in Jacmel remains open, although fighting has disrupted operations at the Port-au-Prince office in recent days. "We continue to provide training and Scriptures to the churches as they go out and share God's Word with new people," he says, adding that there is great need for Bible distribution in the country. With widespread poverty, many cannot afford to buy a Bible, and Christian beliefs have been mixed with other religions -- even voodoo. But DeVries has seen an increasing openness to God's Word since the Bible League opened its first office in Haiti about three years ago. "As we've begun to do the work of starting small-group Bible studies and getting Scriptures out, we've seen a tremendous change and tremendous opportunity. People are looking for God," he says.

A mother and daughter missionary team from Summerfield's Evangelical Bible Mission International are refusing to leave the orphanage they operate in Mirebalais, Haiti, even after rebels seized the town early Friday morning, reported StarBanner.com. "We have not even considered leaving as an option," said Melinda Smith in an e-mail report. David Bustin, Haiti field officer for EBM, said, "When a missionary runs an orphanage they dedicate their life to never abandon their children, even if it means that they have to give up their life." Smith and her mother, Pat, from Jackson, Mich., have operated the Haiti Children's Home for seven years. The orphanage is 30 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince. "We consider these children our children just like anyone would consider their own children," Smith said, adding that the orphanage "has not been threatened or approached in any way" since a rebel group from Haiti's central plateau took over Friday. The two-story, 13-room orphanage houses 43 children. Most of the children are 2 to 3 years old. The youngest is a 2 lb. premature baby boy.

Meanwhile, 4VEH, a radio ministry operated by OMS International outside of Cap-Haitien, continues to broadcast a message of hope to imperiled residents in the area despite being down to a skeleton staff and facing a shortage of fuel to operate the diesel generator. Jerry Maurer, the station's technical coordinator who left Haiti with his family on Tuesday, Feb. 17, says there is enough fuel to run the station for another three weeks. However, the number of hours that the station broadcasts daily has been reduced to save on fuel. Programming continues to go out in French and Creole on AM at 840 kHz and on FM at 94.1 MHz. Limited programming in English and French airs on 94.7 MHz. OMS also ministers in Haiti via church planting, children's education, agricultural development and community development.

Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., have been working with OMS International to establish a satellite radio network that will deliver programs to FM stations nationwide. Downlinks have been installed in Turtle Island and Pignon, and at least three more are planned. HCJB World Radio also helped partner World Gospel Mission with a small station in Port-au-Prince.

In recent developments, residents cheered this morning as a convoy led by rebel leader Guy Philippe first rolled through Petionville, a wealthy suburb, before moving into the heart of Port-au-Prince, reported the Associated Press. When the rebels arrived at the plaza outside the National Palace and a nearby police station, thousands of Haitians converged on the square, shouting "Liberty!" and "Aristide is gone!" But not everyone was joyful as the rebels drove past. Some watched indifferently, their arms folded. At one point, the convoy stopped and rebels jumped out, sweeping their weapons from side to side, then moved on.

Haitien President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who fled Haiti Sunday under pressure from rebels, political opponents and the U.S. and France, arrived today in the Central African Republic for "a few days," according to the African nation's state radio. Aristide said in a short broadcast that those who overthrew him had "cut down the tree of peace," but "it will grow again." Scores of U.S. Marines and French forces spread out from Port-au-Prince's airport to protect key sites -- the vanguard of a multinational force approved by the U.N. Security Council. (HCJB World Radio/Mission Network News/StarBanner.com/OMS International/Associated Press)

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