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Italian missionary kidnapped in Niger
NIAMEY, Sept 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An Italian missionary has been kidnapped
in southwest Niger, in the latest abduction of a foreign worker in the
troubled Sahel country, his organisation said on Tuesday.
Pier Luigi Maccalli, a priest who has lived in Niger for 11 years, was
seized on Monday night in Bamoanga, a village 125 kilometres (75 miles) from
the capital Niamey, the communications chief for the Catholic mission to
Niger, Thomas Codjovi, said.
“The kidnapping happened at around 9pm. According to local residents,
about eight men arrived on motorbikes, broke into his house opposite the
church and forced him to go with them… They returned 10 minutes later,
firing into the air to frighten people,” Codjovi told AFP.
“There were also nuns there, but he was the only one they wanted to
kidnap.”
The Society of African Missions (SMA) confirmed the abduction via the
Mondo E Missione page on Facebook.
It said it was “in round-the-clock contact” with a crisis cell at Italian
foreign ministry.
“There has been no claim by the kidnappers at present,” it said.
Niger, a large and poor country in West Africa, has become a target for
recurring jihadist attacks from neighbouring Nigeria and especially in areas
in the southwest that lie close to the border with Mali.
A German humanitarian worker was kidnapped in the same region of Tillaberi
in April, while an American aid worker was seized farther north in October
2016. Security officials believe that they have been taken to northern Mali
as hostages.
Niger is a predominantly Muslim country, where between one and two percent
of the inhabitants are Christians in a population of about 20 million.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1806 hrs