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Ivory Coast: Apostolic Nuncio killed in car accident


Mgr Ambrose Madtha

Mgr Ambrose Madtha

The Apostolic Nuncio in the Ivory Coast, Mgr Ambrose Madtha, died on Saturday, 8 December8 in a car accident in the west of the country. The car carrying Mgr Madtha was involved in a crash on the road from Man to Biankouma. The Nuncio was returning to Man, where he spent the night, from the village of Odienn, where he had celebrated Mass. The driver was also killed in the accident while the secretary and a nun were slightly wounded.

Fr Pierre Claver N'Guessan, Vicar General of Abidjan said the funeral arrangements would be announced soon. The body of Mgr Madtha hasa been brought to the seat of the Archbishopric in Abidjan.

Mgr Madtha was born on 2 November, 1955 in Belthangady, India, and was appointed Apostolic Nuncio in the Ivory Coast on 8 May, 2008. Mgr Madtha, who was dean of the Diplomatic Corps in the Ivory Coast, was committed to finding a peaceful solution to the post-election crisis that out-going President, Laurent Gbagbo opposed, to the current Head of State, Alassane Ouattara.

During the attack of the forces of Ouattara, backed by French troops, the Presidential Residence where Gbagbo was barricaded, Mgr Madtha remained in the Nunciature, located just 200-330 metres from the palace.

The Ivory Coast has not yet recovered from the political confrontation between the two factions. One of the areas most affected by latent insecurity for the presence of armed groups is precisely the west where Mgr Madtha died. The Nuncio should have celebrated a Mass in Dukou, a town on the border with Liberia, where during the crisis of 2010-2011 more than 3,000 civilians were massacred. In July 2012 several people were killed in the assault of a refugee camp in Nahibly, at the entrance of Dukou. The Ivorian press recalls that Mgr Madtha made a personal commitment on several occasions to come to the aid of refugees.

Source: Fides

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