From Sun May 14, 2006 through Sat May 20, 2006
From koffi kuku Sun May 14 05:42:54 2006 Dear rev, I received a sad news from the boys this morning. They said that the boarder immigration officers of both Nigeria and Cameroon collected almost all the money they had in the pretence of giving them visas and yellow cards. Right now they are in Ndjamena in the Capital of Chad. They need to rest. Tomorrow they will continue their journey by tomorrow to Farchana Camp via Abeche road. I have send little money to them today via western union money transfer to enable them get to you on time. They sent me a telephone number to reach them while in Chad. You can call to see if you can be in contact with them before their arrival.00235 823 xxx. Please notify me as soon as you are in contact with them. All is well. May God continue to be with us. Regards, Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ **************************** ** ** ** Gilat Satcom IP addy ** ** ** **************************** From Fredrick Okonji Sun May 14 08:51:36 2006 Dear Rev. Belcher, Our boss has instructed me to write to you. I an sorry to tell you Mr. Williams is sick from all the travel. We need rest. We will come to receive the money from you when Mr. Williams is not sick. We recieved yellow cards from the immigration official here in chad. Our boss has sent us more money to complete our travel to you .I hope to be with you in two days. I have fear about the security in the area you are in. I spoke to a man that said the area was highly insecured and that I have to be very sure of where I was going. He also informed me that armed robber seized one of the jeeps and held hostage all the occupants in the car. Thanks, Fredrick Okonji ______________________________________________________________________ From Kuhm Belcher Sun May 14 12:02:22 2006 Mr. Okonji, Yes, I heard about the crazy man with the gun stealing the jeep. He sounds quite disturbed. I would urge you not to worry too much. I know that it sounds scary but incidents like that are quite isolated with the extra security the UN has brought in lately. I also heard that the man eventually came to his senses and turned himself in to authorities. I am sorry to hear the Mr. Williams is not fealing well. Does he get car sick easily? Tell Mr. Williams not to worry too much. We have an excellent medical clinic here that can attend to any illness that he may have. Just tell him to stay well hydrated. By the way, just out of curiosity, how do you plan on arriving here? I assume you are not flying, right? If you let me know the mode of transportation, I will let my contacts at the UNHCR know so they can keep an eye out for you and guide you the rest of the way here. As an additional note, there are some new faces out here from the UN. Some of these people have little familiarity with the way things work out here. Another aid worker was almost not allowed to continue to Farchana from Abeche because the people that he was supposed to connect up with were unknown to one of the new people helping with security. I am not even sure if I am on their published list of aid workers here. I got here before the UN nearly five years ago. I am fortunate enough to have contacts all over this area including over the border in Sudan. The people in Sudan that everyone here are so afraid of have always been very respectful to me and have never caused me any trouble. Please write back later and keep me up to date on Mr. Williams condition. I'll say a little prayer for him. Blessings, Rev. Kuhm Belcher ______________________________________________________________________ From Kuhm Belcher Sun May 14 12:40:03 2006 Mr. Kuku, I am getting a little concerned about the boy's motivation. It sounds like they are having a rough time of it. I certainly hope that they are not the type of people that easily give up when a situation becomes difficult. This money needs to get to a bank as soon as possible. If your associates are not up to the task, please let me know now so I can start to make other arrangements. Blessings, Rev. Kuhm Belcher ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Mon May 15 15:40:49 2006 Dear Rev. I received you mail and understand its contents. You should have confidence in the boys. I took time to select them because of their humility and the fear of God in them. Both of them were graduates of a minor seminary and have been trained to love God and humanity as well. I had to use these boys because of the confidence I have on them. They are God fearing and are well brought up. Their uncle has been my associates for six year and has been an honest person to deal with. They will complete the job. Please be patient with them and understand that it is long way from Lagos to your location. All is well. May God continue to be with us. Regards, Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Fredrick Okonji Tue May 16 07:11:27 2006 Dear Rev. Belcher, We will not have any difficulty coming to Farchana camp. Mr. Williams is healthy again, We should have all the necessary things that we need. I really would not want to wait or spend a night in this town again. The people here are very hostile and do not have respects for missionaries. I have already informed Mr. Kuku that we will hire a car to Farchana camp which is about 700km to Farchana camp where you are. This movement will cost us about $800usd which also covers tips for the customs and immigration to gain entry to the camp undisturbed. Fredrick Okonji ______________________________________________________________________ From Kuhm Belcher Tue May 16 11:25:13 2006 Good evening Mr. Kuku, I just got word from Mr. Okonji that they are almost here. It sounds like they are not more that two days away. This is good news. I am quite anxious to see them. I hope that they will be willing to stay here for a couple of days. I can show them around a bit and introduce them to some important people. I also understand that Mr. Williams was not feeling too hot there for a while. I have informed him that he is free to stop by the medical clinic, free of charge. The medical staff can take care of any needs that Mr. Williams may have. I just want to tell you again Mr. Kuku, how much I appreciate all that you are doing for me. In a day and age where I see so much corruption from people, it's nice to see that there are still people out there willing to help others. You are just such a man. I am sure that you will one day be rewarded for all of your life's good works. Also, I received several phone messages but whoever called did not leave a name or number. I assume that it was either you or your associates. No one else has that number. Please, leave a message next time so I know what is going on. Blessings, Rev. Kuhm Belcher ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Tue May 16 20:32:50 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, My name is Rev. Benjamin Boyd. I am writing on behalf of Rev. Kuhm Belcher. I am an associate pastor from the Church of Goodwill and work at the Oure Cassoni camp near the Sudan border, North of Farchana. Rev. Belcher asked me to contact you. I have some news that concerns the two associates that are coming to see Rev. Belcher. Late yesterday afternoon, there was an accident of some sort near the small town of Al Fashir where at least one small child was hurt quite badly. Al Fashir is about four hours (by car) East of Farchana along the same road your associates are currently traveling on. Since Rev. Belcher has an extensive medical background and has been to Al Fashir several times in the last month, he voluntered to go to the aid of this injured child. Rev. Belcher asked me to pass along this important information to you. First off, he has "the package" with him. I do not know what this package is but he said that you would know what he is talking about. He plans on staying in Al Fashir for the next few days until he is certain that the injured child is stable enough to travel by air. At that time, a twelve person plan will be taking the child, his mother, his sister, a nurse and your two associates to Abuja, Nigeria, where there is a hospital that will able to attend to the child. Rev. Belcher will not be on the flight. He will then come here to Oure Cassoni. Rev. Belcher said that this would probably be acceptable to both you and your associates because your associates are from Nigeria and flying back would be far easier, quicker and less expensive than driving. In fact, your associates will not have to pay anything for the flight. Use of the plane has been graciously donated by a US computer firm. Rev. Belcher is deeply sorry for this most unexpected turn of events but he hopes that you and your associates understand Rev. Belcher's deep commitment to helping this world's least fortunate. He also hopes that the flight back to Nigeria will make up for the extra little bit of trouble. I am able to contact Rev. Belcher by radio. Please update me on the location of your associates so I can pass along that information to Rev. Belcher. If there is anything that you would like to pass along to him, please email me and I will make sure that I contact him immediately with your information. If you would like to talk in person, please call this number 360-xxx-xxxx. It is a US number that is routed through a satellite to our communications tent. I may not answer the phone because I do not spend much time in that tent but if you leave a message, I will do my best to call you back. Just so you know, the immigration officers along the border can be difficult to deal with sometimes. They are on the watch for bandits and are suspicious of everyone that travels in either direction. Just a word of advice here, either avoid them or remember that a small "tip" will get your associates past them without any questions or problems. From there, they should not see a single person until they see Al Fashir, the plane and Rev. Belcher. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ Wed May 17, 2006 ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** ** ** ** There was a voice mail left today from an Eric Skof, ** ** a UNHCR official located in Abeche, Chad. He asked ** ** me to call him back immediately. I did. He had a few ** ** questions about who I (Benjamin Boyd) was, where I was, ** ** and who "these men are here to see". ** ** ** ** I told him that I was with the International ** ** Rescue Committee and that I was located in the ** ** Oure Cassoni camp, a couple hours North of Farchana. ** ** I also told him that the lads contact was waiting for ** ** them in Al Fashir. ** ** ** ** I doubt that he believed a single word of it. Lads ** ** may be stupid, but I don't think that the UN is. ** ** ** ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Wed May 17 09:35:30 2006 Rev. Boyd, I have tried calling the number that you have give me several times with no succes in talking to you. You need to call me urgently. The boys have been instructed how to get to Al Fashir but are afraid the plane will not wait long enough for them and leave them stranded. Please I beg you to call me at once. They are suffering. They had horrible experience following through the road from Njamena all through Abeche and complained to me how the police and other officials harrased and exploited them during their journey to Abeche. Please tell Rev. Belcher not to leave until they arrive where he is. The boys want to take the plane home and not drive back the road they just traveled. Did Rev. Belcher tell you if he had the laptop computers with him to? Please call me now at xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Fredrick is my friends nephew and he is worryed about his well being. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Wed May 17 09:54:12 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I am sorry about the phone situation. It certainly can be frustrating sometimes. I have been trying to call you for a while now and I am not able to get connected for some reason. I am also sorry to hear that your associates' journey has been so unpleasant. I think that it would be best if they simply flew back to Nigeria on the plane that we arranged for. I have just spoken with Rev. Belcher on the radio. He tells me that he is not leaving for a few days. In fact, the plane will not arrive until Rev. Belcher says he needs it. The young boy that he is attending to is unable to be moved right now. Rev. Belcher says that he will be there for at least 4 or 5 days more. I asked him about the laptop computers that you spoke of. He said that he was unable to bring them with him but he did have, "the other package". Again, I do not know what that is. I assume that you know? Anyhow, please keep me advised on your plans and I will forward them to Rev. Belcher. Once again, he apologizes for any inconvenience that this may have caused. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Wed May 17 11:36:05 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, How are things going? Rev. Belcher keeps asking me and I do not know what to tell him. I was wondering if you could do something for me. I writing an article for our church newsletter. This article, entitled "The Road to Chad/Darfur", would certainly generate a lot of interest I am sure. I would really like to feature your two associates in it. Can you have them take a picture of themselves and forward it to me? Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Wed May 17 12:21:56 2006 Rev. Boyd, I need you to call me urgently. The boys are going to go where Rev. Belcher is and receieve the money from him and take the plane to Nigeria .They do not want to drive back through the same way. They were requested to pay C 30,000 cifer each to continue to the border. I am worry because Sudan is a war zone. I want to know once they arrive with Rev. Belcher. The boys should be there tomorrow. Please call me at xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Wed May 17 12:36:18 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I think that your associates have made a good decision. The road to Al Fashir is quiet and peaceful. The trouble that has occurred lately in West Darfur has all been 300 or more kilometers North, close to me. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** ** ** ** I am completely talking out my ass here. This area of ** ** West Darfur is extremely violent and dangerous. There ** ** are an estimated 500 people a day getting killed in this ** ** part of the country. Satellite images show entire ** ** villages have been burned to the ground. ** ** ** ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** I will forward this message immediately to Rev. Belcher. I did not know that Rev. Belcher had money for you. Thank you for sharing. Don't worry. Your business is safe with me. I will continue to try calling you. Hopefully, I will get through one of these times. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Thu May 18 08:02:35 2006 Rev. Boyd, You must call me urgently. Are the boys with rev. Belcher yet? They should be will him now. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Thu May 18 08:21:17 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I just got off the radio with Rev. Belcher. He has not seen them yet. I would not worry too much though. The road to Al Fashir is difficult to traverse. It is quite bumpy and dusty. I'm sure that they will be along any time now. If I might ask, how are they getting there? Also, are you sure that they are actually on their way? Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Thu May 18 09:13:00 2006 Rev. Boyd, The boys left immediatly for Rev. Belcher in a car that they were given allowed to use. The unhcr officer gave them instruction to find Al Fasher .Thy should be there now. Please call me now at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Thu May 18 09:21:42 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, Someone let them use their car? Really? How did they explain to the owner that they were flying back to Nigeria? How is the owner of the car supposed to get it back? I keep trying to call you but I am still unable to get a connection. I wish I knew more about all this electronic stuff. I might know how to make this all work. I will keep you updated as I hear more and I hope that you will do the same. If we don't hear anything about the boys in the next 24 hours, I'll see if I can't get someone to drive over and see where they might be. Rest easy. I am sure that there is a very logical explaination. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Thu May 18 11:25:03 2006 Rev. Boyd, I do not understand why you do not call me. This is not a child game. Please find another phone to use. I have real worry for the safty of the boys. The car doe snot matter. The boys can ise it. I think that someone shouod look for them now.It will ne dark sson. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Thu May 18 11:32:26 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I totally understand your concern and I am trying my hardest to contact you by phone. Things do not always work the way you want all the time, especially complicated telecommunications equipment. We're dealing with satellite technology that is a bit out of my control here. I will talk to some of the people around here about getting someone from Abeche, Farchana or Adre to drive on over and see what the story is. Maybe they just ran out of gas or something. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Thu May 18 13:53:10 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I just spoke with Rev. Belcher. He is getting a little concerned that maybe the boys are not really on their way, that perhaps they decided to head back to Nigeria. Could this be the case? Have you heard anything from them? Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Thu May 18 15:08:51 2006 Rev. Boyd, I told you that the boys were coming to Rev. Belcher. They do not have enough money to come back the way they came from. I have not hear from them. Can you send someone immdeitely to find them? I beg you to tell Rev. belcher to be on watch for them and not to leave until they are with him. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Thu May 18 15:17:37 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, OK. I just spoke with one of the UN people here and they will see what they can do. Please notify me immediately if you hear from them so I can call off the UN people. They have their hands full right now and do not need to be wasting time looking for someone who is not lost. I'll pass your message along to Rev. Belcher too. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Thu May 18 16:29:14 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, Rev. Belcher tells me that the young boy that he is caring for is stable enough for the flight to Abuja. Here is what we are going to do. The plane will land in Al Fashir early tommorow morning, pick up the young boy, his mother, his sister and the nurse. It will immedately take off for Abuja. If your associates are there, Rev. Belcher will give them the money that he has and they will fly back to Abuja with everyone else. If the boys do not make it in time, Rev. Belcher will keep $10,000.00 of the money with him, but send the rest of the money with the pilot. Can you meet the pilot in Abuja to receive the money? The pilot can stay there for a day or two to give you time to get there. Rev. Belcher will remain in Al Fashir until your associates arrive. When they get there, the plane will return and pick up your associates and fly them to Lagos. Please let me know as soon as you can about meeting the pilot in Abuja. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Thu May 18 17:24:46 2006 Rev. Boyd, I think that I can be there meet the pilot on Saturday. I am more worried about the boys now. I still have not heard anything. Have you? Mr. Eric from the unhcr is a bastard. He would not agree to send any of his people to look for the boys. Who are you sending to look? Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Thu May 18 21:25:10 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I am sorry that it took so long to get back to you. I have been really busy around here with all sorts of things. I have some other contacts in the South that are already on their way to look for the boys. They brought with them some extra gas, food and water. With any luck we will find the boys by morning. Hopefully the boys took the correct road to Al Fashir. I would hate to think that they are hundreds of kilometers off course. It would be nearly impossible to find them then. I will talk to Rev. Belcher about where the pilot will want to meet you. I have never been to Abuja so I would be of no help in that area. Is there a place in Abuja that you know of that would be easy for the two of you to find? Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Fri May 19 07:51:19 2006 Rev. Boyd, I do not know Abuja well. Have the pilot call me Saturday at xxxxxxxxxxxxx so he can tell me how to find him. I would like this mans name and mobile phone number. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Fri May 19 08:43:44 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, The pilot's name is Troy McClure. I do not know his phone number but I will pass along yours. The plane did not arrive in Al Fashir as planned. There were some mechanical issues that prevented the plane from flying. This will give the boys an additional day to get to it. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Fri May 19 11:46:15 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I just spoke with Rev. Belcher. Like you, we are both gravely worried about the boys. It's been a couple of days now and there seems to be no trace of them anywhere. Please do not tell anyone about this but I have an associate who knows of a guy who will do dirty work for the right price. This man has contacts within the Sudan Liberation Army, the people who seem to have the upper hand in Western Darfur right now. With your permission, I would like to contact this man and see what we can do about locating the boys. What do you think? Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Fri May 19 14:12:05 2006 Rev. Boyd, I am very surprised to hear you speak of mercinarys like this. How is it that a man of God knows such things and people? I think that the UN is better placed to handle this situation. What do your friends with the UN say is happening? And if Rev. Belcher has a plane now why didnt he fly to a bank of his own with his money? Why have people come to receive it in person? These are questions that people have been asking me today. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Fri May 19 14:28:15 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, I understand your questions about the plane. I was thinking the exact same thing until Rev. Belcher pointed out that this plane has only recently become available within the last couple of weeks as a result of intensified troubles in the region. Rev. Belcher also pointed out that the plane is only used in the most serious medical emergencies and cannot be used for any other business. It is too bad that is the case too because Rev. Belcher would much rather fly to Oure Cassoni than have to drive all the way from Al Fashir. Since you have such concern for the boys, perhaps you would like to join Rev. Belcher and me here at Oure Cassoni until the boys have been located? This would make it easier for us to apply the proper pressure to our UN counterparts to make then intensify their search for your associates. I am sure that a familiar face would be welcome to them after such a long and possibly difficult journey. As for my contact that has ties with the SLA, I would not exactly call him a mercenary. I would consider him more of a diplomat. Well, either way, he is available to us if we need him. Perhaps later. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ **************************** ** ** ** Lagos IP addy ** ** The bastard did not ** ** go anywhere. ** ** ** **************************** From koffi kuku Sat May 20 05:20:07 2006 Rev. Boyd, Is there any news from Rev. Belcher? Are the boys with him? Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Sat May 20 07:14:31 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, No sir, I am afraid that there is still no word about them. Also, I hope that you have not left for Abuja yet because Rev. Belcher tells me that the plane did not make it once again. Whatever mechanical problems that it was having yesterday have still not be resolved yet. I do not want to be short with you here but I have a million things that I have to do today. Weekends, even out here, seem extra busy for some odd reason. Have you considered our invitation to come to Oure Cassoni? Like I said before, you being here would help us apply the proper pressure on the UN people to allocate more resources to the search of your two associates. It is certainly not a requirement, but both Rev. Belcher and I think that it would be very effective. Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd ______________________________________________________________________ Sat May 20 08:00:00 2006 ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** ** ** ** Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, a police officer from the ** ** city of Khartoum, Sudan, called Mr. Kuku this morning ** ** and informed him that Mr. Okonji and Mr. Williams are ** ** being held in Khartoum for immigrations violations. ** ** They were picked up 50 kilometers South of Al Fashir. ** ** ** ** Officer Ahmad al-Bashir told Mr. Kuku that the boys ** ** were fine but are unable to speak on the phone until ** ** after they are brought before a judge in mid-August. ** ** ** ** Officer Ahmad al-Bashir also told Mr. Kuku that their ** ** immediate release can only be obtained if Mr. Kuku comes ** ** and gets them. They can both be "processed" for a fee ** ** of 1 million dinar (that's about $4,000.00). This fee, ** ** of course, is a bribe. Mr. Kuku has sworn not to tell ** ** any other officials about this "fee". ** ** ** ** As it turns out, Mr. Okonji is not the nephew of a ** ** friend, but is in fact his own nephew. This has caused ** ** a tremendous bit of tension within Mr. Kuku's family ** ** back in Lagos. ** ** ** ** In reality, this 10 minute phone call was done by yours ** ** truely in what I can only describe as my best Arabic ** ** accent that sounded more like Indian to me. Oh well, ** ** I'm a better writer than I am an impressionist. ** ** ** ** Since it seems that the boys really have not shown up ** ** anywhere yet, Mr. Kuku said that he will make immediate ** ** arrangements to come and get the boys. ** ** ** ** Enjoy your trip sucker. I hear that Khartoum is lovely ** ** this time of year. ** ** ** ** As an additional note, when Mr. Kuku walks into the ** ** police station and asks to see Omar Hasan Ahmad ** ** al-Bashir, he may get a few strange looks. Lt. Gen. ** ** Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir is the president of Sudan. ** ** ** ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** ______________________________________________________________________ From koffi kuku Sat May 20 10:41:22 2006 Rev. Boyd, I received the news from Sudan that the boys are in jail in Khartoum the capital of Sudan. The police say they can not talk on the phone until august. They are being exploited by bastard police who is very wicked and says the boys are terrorists. He told me to go to Khartoum and pay him bribes to get them. Tell Rev. Belcher what happend. He claims to have many friends in Sudan. Can he help the boys since it was because of him the boys were there? Getting to Sudan is difficult for me because of many regulations in Nigeria. Tell Rev. Belcher this it is ok to send them money with the pilot of the plane. I can receive it and deposit it for him as we plan. May God continue to be with us. Barrister Koffi Kuku (Esq). ______________________________________________________________________ From Benjamin Boyd Sat May 20 12:57:53 2006 Dear Mr. Kuku, What wonderful news! I am so happy to hear that the boys are OK. I just told Rev. Belcher and he is quite relieved. I cannot speak for Rev. Belcher about whether or not he will be able to help get the boys out of jail. The police think that the boys are terrorists? Are you joking? The boys? How in the world could two humanitarians be confused for terrorists? That is totally ridiculous. Rev. Belcher should be here tomorrow. I will pass along your message about the money and have him call or write you about getting some help for the boys. Just out of curiosity, why don't you just go and get them? What kind of bribe does this police officer want anyhow? How much is he asking for? Yours in the Lord, Rev. Benjamin Boyd