Red Cross to contact rebels

Press, 20 May 1987, Page 8

Red Cross to contact rebels

PA Wellington An International Red Cross representative will lead a search for . the seven people kidnapped by armed rebels in Mozambique. The representative will try to get in touch with the rebels deep in the bush and secure the release of the group which includes a New Zealander, Vicky Copper, aged 32, and her family. Mrs Cooper, a trained nurse, was kidnapped at gunpoint last Wednesday along with her husband,

Philip, aged 37, daughter, • Abigail, and four others while delivering medical supplies to a hospital. An armed group called Renamo — the Mozambique national resistance movement — is believed to be holding the hostages to gain recognition for its cause against Mozambique’s Marxist Government. It is also believed the group may be using the medical supplies and know-how of the hostages to help in its guerrilla war from, the bush. Families of the hostages were last

evening praying for their return. Mrs Cooper’s father-in-law, Mr Dennis Cooper, said from his Zimbabwe home last evening, “We are all praying the group is now in the hands of the Lord.” Mr Cooper, a pastor in the Mission for Mozambique, said he was glad the Red Cross representative had been called in and felt it was the best way .of securing the hostages’ freedom. An armed search by troops could spark trouble and endanger the cap-

’ fives, he said. “We hope the rebels will push the group safely over the border after they have obtained their political mileage out of them.” The mother of Mrs Cooper, Mrs Bunty Dix, was last evening waiting at her Waikanae home for news. . “I am glad to hear moves are being made for obtaining release and we are eager to know how my daughter and family are. We are praying for them,” she said. Mrs Cooper and the

other captives were kidnapped while taking medical supplies from a Youth With a Mission farm near Harare to a mission hospital in the Mozambican town of Gondola. .■/ The rebels then retreated to their bush heartland, taking the hostages with them. No contact has since been made. The Cooper family have been living and working with the religious mission, which is based in Zimbabwe and run by Mr Dennis Cooper.