March 14, 2016
Alliance people and personnel are safe after militants gunned down at least 16 people at a beach resort in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa, on Sunday, March 13. Militants fired on beach-goers in Grand-Bassam, located in the southern part of the country.
Once the carnage ended, a total of 22 persons were dead, including the six gunmen and two soldiers.
“The beautiful beach-resort city of Grand-Bassam is about an hour’s drive from our place,” writes West Africa Alliance Theological Seminary (FATEAC) Professor Deanna Harrison. “We go there several times a year for a beach day.” FATEAC is in Abidjan, the country’s commercial capital.
The resort area is a popular destination for locals and expats alike. “On the weekends it is packed with hard-working folks who just want a day off,” Deanna observes. Of the 16 civilians targeted in the beach attacks, all but 4 were Ivoirians.
“This is not the Club Med crowd—the vast majority of the beach-goers are middle-class families who, for the price of a grilled-fish lunch, get to splash in the waves or relax on the beach chairs.
“Please pray for West Africa,” urges Deanna. “We also are praying that these tragic events will somehow be used to turn people to the Lord.”
In January, terrorists targeted a hotel and restaurant in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital city, leaving 28 dead and 56 wounded. Among those killed was Alliance ministry partner Mike Riddering.
Learn More
Read a Washington Post report for more details about the attacks in Ivory Coast this past weekend.