Missionaries Continue to Evacuate from Ivory Coast
Forty-five missionaries and children with a Florida-based mission agency were able to safely evacuate from the violence-ridden Ivory Coast on Friday and over the weekend
Forty-five missionaries and children with a Florida-based mission agency were able to safely evacuate from the violence-ridden Ivory Coast on Friday and over the weekend, according to a report released Monday. Meanwhile, the last three workers for New Tribe Mission are still awaiting a flight out of the capital city of Abidjan, which is scheduled for today.
Last week, leaders from the New Tribes Mission (NTM) made the difficult decision to evacuate from the country after a cease-fire was violated and anti-foreigner violence erupted in the Ivory Coast resulting in the deaths of over 27 people and the wounding of more than 1,000 people.
As more than 5,000 foreigners and 10,000 African citizens began to evacuate from the war-torn coastal nation, NTM’s Ivory Coast mission leaders made the same decision in concert with several European nations including France, England, Spain, Belgium, and Italy—who are evacuating their citizens because of ongoing violence.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
According to NTM, the decision to evacuate was based not only on the violence, however, but on the fact that the ongoing division of the country between rebel and government forces—held in place by a now-tenuous cease-fire—made it all but impossible for missionaries to continue their work in tribal villages in Ivory Coast. Most of the people groups among whom NTM missionaries ministered are in the rebel-held north.
“There's been a continued deterioration of civil order in Abidjan and also other parts of Ivory Coast,” New Tribes Missions' Nita Zelenak told Mission Network News last week. “It has reached a point where the safety of foreigners is uncertain and so, our missionaries are no longer able to carry out their ministries. So, New Tribes has decided that it's best that we evacuate the country."
And so, as the safety of foreigners was uncertain and the missionaries were unable to carry on their ministries, NTM, in cooperation with the US and French embassies made arrangements to evacuate all of its missionaries from Ivory Coast by this week.
On Friday, forty-three NTM missionaries and children flew out of Yamoussoukro—where the bulk of the mission's personnel are in Ivory Coast. Two others were able to leave a tribal village and get on a flight over the weekend.
“It was an incredible journey but we find ourselves safe and sound in Germany now,” wrote NTM missionary Steve Robertson, who along with his wife, Holly, was among those who left Yamoussoukro on Friday.
After a flight of less than an hour sitting on suitcases or the floor in the belly of a British Royal Marine transport, they arrived in Accra, Ghana, where all but 13 caught a flight to Germany.
NTM’s missionaries in Germany met them at the airport and provided food and lodging.
Harry and Reidun Groot were able to leave a tribal village over the weekend and make their way out of Ivory Coast. They are expected to catch a flight from Ghana to their home country, the Netherlands, today. Their children were evacuated along with other missionaries from Yamoussoukro, where they had been attending school.
Meanwhile, the last three NTM missionaries are still awaiting a flight out of the capital city of Abidjan, which is scheduled for today.
NTM has asked for the continued prayers of the Christian community for peace and stability for the people of Ivory Coast; for their last three missionaries to get out safely; and for wisdom, guidance and comfort for NTM’s missionaries who have served in Ivory Coast.
