Anglican Provinces in Africa Denounce Liberian Violence, Call for Preparation of Relief Efforts
Episcopal News Service. August 7, 1990 [90193]
MASERU, Lesotho, August 2 -- The Anglican provinces of Africa today condemned "in the strongest of terms" the breach of sanctuary that occurred when Liberian soldiers massacred refugees at a church in Monrovia last weekend.
The Council of the Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA), meeting in Maseru under the chairmanship of the Most Rev. Manasses Kuria, archbishop of Kenya, also called on the worldwide Anglican Communion, the World Council of Churches, and other partners of African churches to "co-operate with a view to mounting a massive relief effort for Liberia as soon as circumstances allow."
CAPA's views were expressed in a statement released in Maseru today and transmitted throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The statement was in partial response to a detailed report by the Rev. Canon Burgess Carr on the situation in Liberia and on efforts made by a negotiating team of religious leaders to promote peace talks between the warring parties in the Liberian civil war. Carr, a Liberian now working for the Episcopal Church in the United States, was a member of the negotiating team.
CAPA added in its statement that it "affirms strongly the strenuous efforts undertaken by both Christian and Muslim leaders to launch peace talks.... We warmly commend this type of inter-faith action for justice and peace to our provinces and to all churches in Africa."
Liberian religious leaders worked hard to get the government of President Samuel Doe and rebel forces to meet at a negotiating table, according to Carr. These talks failed largely because of Doe's refusal to contemplate demands from his opponents that he should step down from office.
Carr reported that it had become dangerous for people in the Liberian capital of Monrovia to leave their homes. He said that one intelligence report suggested that 100,000 of Monrovia's 500,000 inhabitants might die before the end of current fighting.
"The (American) ambassador reported to Washington that two Saturdays ago Monrovia was littered with dead bodies," Carr said. "At one place he had encountered some 50 bodies. Because people were afraid to go out and remove the bodies, he saw dogs eating the dead. That's how bad it is.
"The morgue is full. The hospital has no electricity. There is no electricity or water in Monrovia, no telephone communications. There is the possibility of epidemics.
"What can I say?" Carr continued. "I know that the people in Liberia, Archbishop George (Browne) and others, know that they are in the prayers of many people. The churches tried to bring a stop to this thing in a negotiated way; unfortunately, that didn't happen....
"Now the church should be planning the kind of relief efforts that need to be undertaken when the fighting stops.... We can be ready on a standby basis waiting to go in," Carr concluded.