By Lansana Fofana
FREETOWN, Dec 13 1998 (IPS)

The Catholic Church in Sierra Leone has stopped operations in the northern town of Lunsar, about 115 kilometres from the capital Freetown, following weekend’s rebel attack and threats on the lives of missionaries and expatriate medical staff.

Lunsar is a strategic town with a large missionary presence and a thriving agricultural base. It hosts the famous Mabesseneh hospital which offers surgical and other health care services to tens of thousands of rural people impoverished by the conflict in Sierra Leone.

Sheka Turay, a school teacher, fled the town with ‘hundreds of civilians’ on Dec 6. “We consider the situation very volatile, and we just can’t wait for the rebels, who have already attacked and burnt a number of outlying villages,” he told IPS this week.

He said about 40 houses were set ablaze and an unknown number of civilians killed in the town, which is populated by more than 250,000 people. He said the church has evacuated all priests and medical staff, to Makeni, the capital of the northern region, 32 kilometres from Lunsar.

Church leaders say the evacuation is to avoid a repetition of an incident three weeks ago, when a Catholic priest was abducted by rebel forces.

One clergyman says they are praying for the early release of Father MARIO GUERRA who was kidnapped from Kamalo also in the North, and do not want to risk a replay of the incident. “We now know the rebels are targeting priests and foreign aid workers and we are not giving them any opportunityo

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