ELCA NEWS SERVICE October 10, 2005 ELCA Members Help Monitor Elections in Liberia Oct. 11 05-191-FI CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Five members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are in Liberia to monitor elections Oct. 11 that the West African nation hopes will bring closure to 14 years of civil war. They are part of an international, ecumenical delegation assembled by the Liberian Council of Churches (LCC) and the Lutheran Church in Liberia. Liberians are to vote for a new president and legislature to replace an interim government. Former president Charles Taylor was forced into exile when a 2003 peace accord ended years of fighting. Liberia's civil war killed as many as 200,000 of the nation's 3 million citizens. Working with Liberia's National Elections Commission (NEC), the LCC educated Liberian citizens on voting rights and helped monitor the voter registration process. The overall goal of the observers is to ensure that every stage of the electoral process is free, fair and transparent, and is guided by principles of morality, honesty and credibility. LCC is coordinating ecumenical teams of international and local observers and deploying them throughout Liberia. The Carter Center, the Economic Community of West African States, the European Union, the National Democratic Institute and a number of embassies are also providing election monitors. The five ELCA participants are volunteers, paying their own airfare to Liberia. They are officially registered with the NEC as election observers. + James J. Bowman, retired associate in ministry, Albuquerque, N.M. He is former director of Lutheran World Relief's Office of Public Policy in Washington, D.C., and former Peace Corp volunteer in Liberia and election observer in Liberia's 1997 election. + Nancy J. Haberstich, registered nurse and international consultant on hospital infection control, Lincoln, Neb. She is a trustee of the ELCA Board of Pensions and a former ELCA global mission volunteer in Liberia at Phebe Hospital and School of Nursing. + The Rev. Hans P. Lee, Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Minneapolis. Many members of the congregation are from Liberia. + The Rev. Ronald E. Shellhamer, Grace Lutheran Church, Shamokin, Pa. The congregation is part of the ELCA Upper Susquehanna Synod, which is in a "companion synod" relationship with the Lutheran Church in Liberia. + Tom Witt, Minneapolis, coordinator, ELCA Liberia Support Network. The five observers were in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, Oct. 5 for a training workshop before being deployed across Liberia. The LCC is focusing its efforts on monitoring seven counties, including Monteserrado, Bong and Lofa counties where there are larger numbers of Lutherans. Bowman, Haberstich and Shellhamer were based in Gbanga, Bong County. Lee and Witt were based in Voinjama, Lofa County. Bishop Sumoward E. Harris of the Lutheran Church in Liberia and leaders of a half dozen other Liberian churches participated in the training. They will serve as local election monitors. The Lutheran Church in Liberia secured about 15 international observers and more than 100 local monitors. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news