Malian authorities have confirmed the abduction of a German priest who was preparing for mass in the West African country.
Reverend Hans-Joachim Lohre was abducted in Mali's capital of Bamako on Sunday.
According to witnesses, Dia Monique Pare, one of Lohre’s colleagues at the Institute of Islamic-Christian Training, said a neighbour saw “a black car without licence plates parked in the institute’s courtyard”, reported Associated Press.
No one has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the German priest, who has been in Mali for more than 30 years and teaches at the Institute of Islamic-Christian Training.
In related news, those behind the abduction of five Catholic priests, a Catholic nun and three others in Cameroon’s Mamfe Diocese demanded a ransom of some $100 000 in order to free them, a Catholic archbishop in the Central African nation has told ACI Africa, citing the Association for Catholic Information in Africa.
On September 16, unidentified gunmen attacked St Mary’s Catholic Nchang Parish of Mamfe Diocese during which nine people were abducted and buildings in the parish premises, including the church, set on fire.
In October, a Catholic priest with the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha, Nigeria, Father Joseph Igweagu, was kidnapped in Anambra State, eastern Nigeria.
Igweagu was reportedly kidnapped on the evening of October 12 after returning to his house from celebrating a funeral vigil mass in Umunachi in the Njikoka Council area of the state.
IOL