This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

All young full-time Mormon missionaries have been withdrawn from the East African nation of Burundi due to "civil unrest and a coup," independent demographer Matt Martinich reports on his blog about LDS Church growth.

"Plans have been made for the three [Mormon] branches in the country," Martinich writes, "to have branch missionaries continue teaching and baptizing new converts."

To the LDS researcher, the Burundi move illustrates the need for the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be aware of a country's political climate.

"Burundi is a good example now of the church having a time-sensitive window to establish a presence in a nation," Martinich, who lives in Colorado, writes in an email. "If the church had waited to establish a presence in Burundi until now [rather than in 2010 as it did], then there would be no foreseeable prospects for an LDS presence."

Martinich notes there are many other nations around the world where the church has yet to establish a presence — including Burkina Faso, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Senegal and The Gambia, to name a few — "and some of these locations may be more difficult or impossible to reach in the future if religious freedom conditions deteriorate or significant political conflict emerges."

As to Burundi, he says, "things are not looking good for missionaries to return anytime soon with recent political instability."

Peggy Fletcher Stack