This is an encouraging story from Kim Cone, missionary colleague, from his visit to G’la with Roy and the others just last week. Our visiting group of 5 had had nothing but good visits and interactions with the Sele-ka in control there in our town. This story is representative of the state of affairs in our area and is very different from the rest of the country.
“At the border, I sat in a chair facing the gracious Sele-ka commander. A yard and a half from my left foot lay a man with his face in the dirt, obviously roughed up and with his elbows tied behind his back with a piece of electrical wire. I thought, “Some poor civilian”. …After we chatted awhile, the commander said, “that is one of ours”! “What”, I replied, “You mean one of YOUR troops”. “Yes,” he responded. “He was hassling civilians and so I put him in my jail for 8 days. Now we’ve just beaten him and we are releasing him.” And with that, they undid the wire and let him return to the barracks not too far away. The hospital personnel had told us that the Sele-ka brass were really cracking down on the misbehavior of their troops and now I’d witnessed it myself.”
We have been blessed with a law abiding, peace keeping colonel in the Sele-ka forces as our head honcho at Gamboula. We are hoping and praying that he will remain in our area and that other regions will follow suit. Thank you for praying!