| Liberia concerns touch close to home for two conference clergy By Melissa LauberUMConnection Staff 
The United States and The United Methodist Church must take immediate action to bring peace to Liberia, said Bishop Felton Edwin May, who has consulted with the White House on humanitarian and economic issues in Africa. It is with peace in mind that I congratulate President George W. Bush on his recent trip to Africa, and urge him to authorize American participation in an international peacekeeping effort in Liberia, said Bishop May in a July 10 statement. The bishop also called on The United Methodist Church to redouble its funding and support of projects in Africa, to sustain the mission and ministry already there and to create new opportunities and new disciples for Jesus Christ.  Conditions in Liberia are heartrending, said the Rev. Victor Sawyer, chairman of the Africa Committee of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. He has frequent communication with people in West Africa, where he was born.
The situation is grim, Sawyer said. Almost a third of the countrys people are homeless. The people have no electricity, little running water, and dwindling supplies of medicine and food, he said. Many of the people are dying not from gunshots but from hunger. Liberia has undergone successive civil wars in the past two decades. As this issue went to press, rebels were trying to topple the government of President Charles Taylor, a former warlord himself. The rebels who have been fighting to overthrow Taylor have their hands deeply stained with blood, just as does Charles Taylor, Sawyer said. The human devastation in Monrovia (Liberias capital) is  something you couldnt dream of, said the Rev. Laurence Bropleh, a native of Liberia and pastor of Jones Memorial UMC in Washington, D.C., who has worked as regional executive secretary on sub-Saharan Africa for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Law and order have broken down, said Bropleh, who speaks with people in Liberia daily. He confirmed reports of rape, harassment of civilians by armed men, and child separation within the internally displaced peoples camp. Brutality and suffering reign, he said. No one is acting for the sake of peace in Liberia, Sawyer said. A third party whose sole interest in peace is essential, and that third party must have the military might to ensure peace. It must be the United States. The pastors applauded Bishop Mays call for military intervention and the continued empowerment of African leadership. Today the bloodshed must stop, the bishop said. Now is the time for the United States to send both finances and personnel to participate in the international peacekeeping effort. In addition, the United States must contribute to the disarmament and reintegration of the combatants, the financial support of the displaced persons and refugees, the creation of equitable and fair global trading practices, and the conducting of free and fair elections. Bropleh wants the church to form a consultation that enlists the entire West African region in developing a strategy for empowering Liberia and its neighbors. He is calling upon any interested parties throughout the church to join in dialogue with existing organizations, such as the denominations Holistic Strategy for Africa Task Force. Interested people can contact him at (301) 670-0221 or
There is no excuse for this brutality, for this abuse of human rights, said Bropleh, who was tortured as a teen-ager for speaking against former president Samuel Does government. The common calling of The United Methodist Church should be to seek justice and peace. The United Methodist Church should not rest content until all of the family has Gods peace and justice. Liberia is no exception. Donations to UMCOR can be designated for Liberia Emergency, Advance #150300, and mailed to the Conference Treasurer at 7178 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia MD 21046-2132. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583. | 
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