Posted on 08/01/2002 5:59:32 PM PDT by CPI News
Sudan Aid Workers Attacked; American Escapes
Humanitarian aid workers in Sudan are reported to have been victims of a July 29th attack in southern Sudan. According to World Vision (WV) a Christian international humanitarian aid organization one WV humanitarian aid worker was killed and three were taken hostage.
A southern Californian church has now confirmed that one of the aid workers that escaped the attack was American.
Jeff Lasseigne, associate pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, told CPI News investigators that Eric Green, an American, was able to escape the attacks.
Dean Owens of World Vision says he is "not aware of such reports regarding an American being involved." This appears to be because the American was in Sudan independent of the humanitarian organization, although he was working with WV aid workers.
World Vision first released reports that three aid worker were missing; however, Dean Owens of World Vision has now confirmed that they have been abducted. The nationalities and status of the aid workers are given as one Kenyan and two Germans abducted, and one Kenyan killed.
Jeff Lasseigne confirmed earlier CPI sources claiming that Eric Green had made it safely to a Kenyan orphanage. The Harvest missionary escaped with a World Vision worker, identified as Lois.
Earlier unconfirmed accounts of the attack indicate that the American "had gone to get parts for the group, was on his way back when he witnessed the attacks, and was able to hide with another missionary."
Eric Green, the American missionary, was originally sent to drill wells in Sudan. According to his pastor, Jeff Lasseigne, he is currently ministering to the Kenyan population in an area 80% infected by AIDS.
The attacks came amid hopes for the recent peace talks and nearly two decades of misery. The northern government - that adheres to Islamic law - has been dominating and brutalizing the peaceful Christian and animist southern inhabitants.
While the northern policy of genocide has been on going for the last nineteen years, the attacks have increased in recent years. The reasons can be found in a new influx of revenue, which has enabled the Islamic northern government to obtain more advanced weapons and equipment.
The money is coming from the sale of Sudans oil reserves. Sudan Oil reserves have become immensely profitable to foreign companies, such as Talisman Energy of Canada, which pour up to a million dollars directly into the regimes genocidal policies.
According to the Human Rights Watch annual report on Sudan, "The government announced that its new oil revenue, constituting 20 percent of its 2000 revenue, would be used for defense, including an arms factory near Khartoum. Defense spending in dollars increased 96 percent from 1998 to 2000. Not coincidentally, government use of air power and bombing increased."
This is not the first time Christians have been attacked by the northern Islamic government. International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that, "Forced conversions to Islam is part of government policy," and that "Churches are often closed, destroyed, or not allowed to be built."
World Vision website describes the organization to be a "Christian relief and development organization working for the well being of all people, especially children."
It remains to be seen what the Bush administrations actions will be, in response to the attack on an American citizen.
CPI News will continue to follow this story.
http://www.cpinews.net/archives/2002-q3/sudan.aid-workers.abducted/
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