Here’s part of what I sent out to our international administration yesterday lunchtime:
Dear All,
This is to inform you that, this morning, I have taken the decision that all SIL members currently in Côte d’Ivoire should leave within the next 10 days. This decision is based on:
i) the consensus of our Embassies that "non-essential" personnel should leave as soon as possible.
ii) the unanimous view of our Field Crisis Management Committee
iii) general agreement among the SIL membership here
Our plan is to regroup in Bamako, Mali. Some will travel by scheduled flights, others in personal vehicles that will make the long overland trip East to Ghana, North to Burkina Faso and then West to Mali (probably at least a 3 day journey). A few will be leaving for other places due to other commitments.
At present the situation in Abidjan remains calm and we expect some of our employees to be able to keep certain essential services running from the Abidjan centre.
Thank you to everyone who has been providing so much support to us at this time. Please continue to pray for our dear national colleagues who will remain here and that peace will return to the whole country so that SIL’s work here can move forward once again.
Trusting the Lord for the future and for his glory,
Paul Shaddick
Acting Director
As you can probably imagine this wasn’t an easy decision. It was also hard to break the news to our employees yesterday afternoon. Soon after finishing our meeting with employees in Abidjan we learned that the rebels and the government had signed a ceasefire, which began at midnight last night. We are still convinced however that leaving is the right thing to do for the moment.
We will be flying, with most of our colleagues, on a scheduled flight to Bamako next Tuesday. We are hoping, if the situation continues to improve, to return to Abidjan in about a month.