| Three years ago when Mozambicans
were clinging to tree branches as they tried to escape rising
floodwaters PDA issued a plea to our members asking for immediate
calls into the State Department pressing the U.S. government to
send rescue craft. Six months after issuing that call we learned
via another organization that their congressman told them "the
Presbyterian Church made the difference on that issue and moved
the U.S. government to action." They were calling to invite
us to a special event to speak as an organization with deep concern
and love for Africa. Friends, we are at another such time where
calls into the State Department are critical for our church partners
and friends in Liberia. Please read the attached and faithfully
respond today.
"Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has received numerous
calls of concern from our partners in Liberia over the past
week with more frantic calls over the weekend as the situation
entered a sort of free fall situation. There was real hope when
President Taylor agreed to participate in peace talks. People
saw that as some positive momentum for the first time in years.
The attempt to arrest him and the subsequent quick return to
Monrovia felt to them like a death blow to a process that held
for them some hope. Our conversations with leadership from the
Concerned Christian Community and the YMCA with whom we work
indicate that all of their staff are scattered. Leadership has
had to flee their own homes for the tenuous safety of Monrovia
so they also are now in the ranks of the displaced. As the rebels
near the city there is a deep and growing fear of a potential
bloodbath. After all, multiple thousands of internally displaced
are now between the rebels and the deep blue sea. There are
no routes out. Continually the cry has gone up for prayer and
for calls to the U.S. government begging for focused attention
to the issue. Liberians who have historical ties to the United
States have watched as Britain assisted Sierra Leone, and the
French moved in to stop the situation in Cote d'Ivoire. They
are looking for a similar definitive response from the United
States."
As the crisis in Liberia escalates our partner churches are
asking us to raise our voice and call for active intervention
to prevent a blood bath.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please call the Liberian Desk Officer — Andrew Silski —
(202) 647 0252 and Secretary of State — Colin Powell —
(202) 647 5291 and express your concern about the current situation
and urge the United States to play a more active role in the
conflict.
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