LDS Missionaries Safe following Political Unrest in Zimbabwe
Contributed By Rachel Sterzer, Church News staff writer
All missionaries serving in the Zimbabwe Harare Mission are safe following political unrest in the impoverished southern African nation.
“They have been instructed to remain indoors and have adequate supplies,” said Church spokesman Eric Hawkins.
Zimbabwe’s military leaders placed their country’s 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe under house arrest and deployed troops to the streets of the capital, Harare, on Wednesday, November 15, according to AP News. Soldiers took control of state TV and blocked access to parliament and the courts.
In their statement on Wednesday, the military said their aim was to “pacify a degenerating political, social, and economic situation” in Zimbabwe, then to give back power.
The Church has more than 29,000 members in Zimbabwe. President Thomas S. Monson announced on April 3, 2016, plans to construct a temple in the capital city of Harare.
