c. 1999 Religion News Service

Missionaries deny being mercenaries

(RNS) The head of a small Indianapolis-based missionary group said Sunday (March 14) weapons seized recently by Zimbabwean officials from three members of Harvestfield Ministries were used solely for protection and hunting.

From his home in Indianapolis, Jonathan Wallace rejected the Zimbabwe government’s accusation that the three members of his group posed as missionaries while funneling guns to rebels in the Congo.

However, Zimbabwe officials who are holding the missionaries without bail, are not buying Wallace’s explanation.

Airport security detained the missionaries, bound for Switzerland, when an airport metal detector revealed a gun. A subsequent search of their GMC pickup truck turned up assault and sniper rifles, shotguns, a light machine gun, handguns, firearms, telescopic sights, knives, camouflage cream, two-way radios and ammunition.

Wallace admitted to shipping the guns to Zimbabwe when his group moved to the region in 1997. However, he maintained that the group was not supplying arms to rebels. “We all love to hunt,”said Wallace.”We shot at gun ranges in Zimbabwe.” Zimbabwean officials, meanwhile, believe the group was supplying arms to rebels waging an eight-month civil war to topple Congolese President Laurent Kabila.

Held without bail and charged with espionage, terrorism and sabotage, the missionaries _ Joseph Wendell Pettijohn, 35, John Lamonte Dixon, 39, and Gary George Blanchard, 34 _ face life in prison if convicted of even partial charges.”We preached, we drilled water wells, and did lots of other missionary work there … We now have hundreds of Christians and preachers there,”the Associated Press quoted Wallace as saying.

John Paul appeals for an end to Indonesian violence

(RNS) Pope John Paul II on Sunday (March 14) appealed to Christians and Muslims in Indonesia to end the ongoing violence that has polarized the two groups and led to some 200 deaths in recent weeks.”I direct to all, and especially to those who foment the disorders, a pressing appeal to abandon violence, the cause of countless sufferings, and to find again the paths of harmony,”the pope said.

The pope noted that he was spiritually close to all the Indonesian population and that the violence had”overturned the traditional harmony of coexistence between Christians and Muslims.” Meanwhile, scattered signs of both violence and peace were apparent on the Indonesian island of Ambon, where the clashes have been centered. Some markets that had been partially torched by rioters began to reopen Monday, offering fish and vegetables. Yet reports also emerged that 15 houses were torched Sunday in a Muslim section of the village of Soabali.

Despite increased security, pockets of violence continue to erupt in the region where riots have claimed at least 200 lives since fighting began Jan. 19, in Ambon, 1,500 miles east of Jakarta, and spread to five other islands in Maluka Province.

Beleaguered by the Asian financial crisis, Indonesia is suffering through its worst economic crisis in 30 years.

Vatican delegation visiting Hanoi

(RNS) The Vatican’s deputy foreign minister was due to arrive in Hanoi on Monday (March 15) but Vietnamese officials refused to disclose details of the visit and left it unclear as to whether media would be allowed to cover the visit.

Monsignor Celestino Migliore was expected to be in Vietnam for five days to discuss the steps needed to establish diplomatic ties between the Vatican and communist-ruled Vietnam.”The Government Committee on Religion is the host and will decide all programs for (the Vatican) delegation,”a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

The committee is responsible for regulating all religions and religious activities in the country.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, relations between the Vatican and Vietnam have been strained, especially on the issue of Vatican control over the Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam. For example, the government does not automatically approve papal appointments to the church’s hierarchy.

Migliore is expected to raise the issue of the appointment of bishops, especially to vacant dioceses or where the current bishop is ailing, as well as a possible trip to the country by Pope John Paul II. Vietnam’s bishops have extended an invitation to John Paul but the government has been silent on the possibility, saying diplomatic ties were needed first.

Vietnam has about 8 million Catholics, the largest Catholic population in Southeast Asia outside the Philippines.

Bomb blast hits North Carolina women’s health clinic

(RNS) A bomb exploded Saturday (March 13) at an Asheville, N.C., clinic where abortions are performed and federal investigators said they have not ruled out the possibility it may have been set by fugitive Eric Rudolph.

The bomb, which only partially detonated, caused no injuries and little damage. It it had fully exploded, according to officials of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, it could have”devastated the entire end of the building and gone into the building approximately 40 to 60 feet.””We have no evidence, at this time, that this bomb is the work of Eric Rudolph,”U.S. Attorney Mark Calloway said, the Associated Press reported.”It is too early, of course, to draw any conclusions.” Asheville is about 75 miles west of the mountains where law enforcement officials have been searching for Rudolph for more than a year. Rudolph has been a fugitive since the January 1998 bombing of a Birmingham, Ala., women’s health clinic that killed an off-duty police officer and severely wounded a nurse. He is also wanted in connection with three Atlanta attacks, including the 1996 Olympic bombing that killed one person.

Quote of the day: the Israeli cabinet

(RNS)”Israel will not agree under any circumstances to the division or internationalization of Jerusalem and it will remain forever under the sole sovereignty of the state of Israel.” _ The Israeli cabinet, in a March 14 statement challenging the European Union over the status of the holy city. The EU has refused to halt meeting with Palestinians at Orient House, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s headquarters in Arab East Jerusalem.

DEA END RNS