THERE is an empty hospital in Uganda, just over the border from the Congo. In Tavistock there is a store of enough items to make it operational.

But before the vital life-saving work can start, £4,000 must be raised to pay for transport.

The equipment ? much of it donated by Derriford Hospital ? has been collated through Tavistock-based Kings? Great Lakes (Africa) Mission.

Pastor Colin Bond said the hospital, at Fort Portal, was just over the border from the war in the Congo.

?The refugees pour over the border having lost a foot or a hand ? because of machete chops or bullet wounds ? to get help,? he said.

Tribal fighting has been aggravated by the Uganda, Rwanda and Congo armies withdrawing after fighting together.

?A small UN force has come into the vacuum left by the retreating armies,? said Colin.

?But as they retreat the atrocities they committed are being overtaken by the ethnic tribal atrocities. This is a wild killing field with people going to Uganda to escape with their lives and dying there because of lack of medication. We are trying to equip the hospital to help them.?

Colin said the equipment from Derriford Hospital and other items that have been donated will help equip the hospital. At the moment it has nothing ? not even the beds.

He said Princess Evelyn Komuntale of the royal family of the Bahema people ? who visited Tavistock last year ? had asked the Great Lakes (Africa) Mission (GLAM) to equip the empty hospital in Fort Portal.

?The princess lost an uncle and his family when they were killed earlier this year. Another uncle escaped with his family to the relative safety of Uganda.?

The whole of Bunia is Princess Evelyn?s country and her grandfather was the king of the Bahema people. However she cannot return to the Congo because she would be killed.

Now she works out of Las Vegas, fund-raising to help her people with schools and hospitals.

In December GLAM set up a six-ward clinic at Bukavu. Colin said the real trouble was some 200 miles north of Bukavu around the city of Bunia.

?We are raising money to sent a container load out to Fort Portal to supply medical aid to help the people of Bunia which is about 50 miles away. But, being in Uganda, Fort Portal is safer because the military presence there gives a bit of stability. That is one of the things you need in Africa, stability because if you have not got that you have the rioting and murders,? said Colin.

He said GLAM was on the look-out for a reliable four-by-four vehicle to help transport injured people.

?People die before they get to the hospital. Most people live up to 50 miles from medical help so if they break a leg it is transport by wheelbarrow or on someone?s back.?

Colin admits, when confronted by the vast problems, a container full of equipment however vital can only do so much.

?The need is huge and our help is just a drop in the bucket. But with more drops we will fill the bucket up one day.?

He said 25 years ago there was a ?cloud of bloodlust? in Idi Amin?s Uganda. ?In 1994 that cloud moved around the equator and one million people were slaughtered in Rwanda. Now that cloud has moved around west to the Congo with four million deaths reported.?

Colin said that despite the slaughter it was ?not all evil? in the country.

?I think good people are stirred up by the evil. It is not the people ? it is a power of evil that aggravates people and stirs them up to do things they never meant to do.

?It is difficult for our western mind to comprehend it. They are used to killing and have seen a lot of it. They become callous. But there are a lot of good people out there helping.?

To find out about GLAM and its work contact the Kings web on: http://www.kingsnews.org.uk/appeal">www.kingsnews.org.uk/appeal