Mali: Priest and four parishioners kidnapped

militia group - image Fides

Source: Fides

Fr Leon Douyon, parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes in Segue, together with Thimothe Somboro, village leader, Pascal Somboro, deputy mayor, and Emmanuel Somboro, a catechist, and Boutie Tolofoudiewere kidnapped on Monday, 21 June, as they drove to a funeral.

Church sources told Fides: "The group was on its way from Segue to San to take part in the funeral of Fr Oscar Thera, who had been parish priest for nine years in Segue." The village is inhabited largely by Catholics from the diocese of Mopti.

The sources expressed concern that group maybe been taken hostage for purposes of extortion. It is not uncommon for the various armed groups operating in Mali and other countries of the Sahelian belt to exchange prisoners and have them managed by organizations specialized in the management of kidnappings for the purpose of extortion, often passing from one State to another.

In Mali on 8 October 2020, Fr Luigi Maccalli, from the Society of African Missions, (SMA), was released after being held captive by by jihadist militiamen, in Niger for over two years.

Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez Argoti, a Colombian religious from the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate, who was kidnapped in the mission in Karangasso, in southern Mali, on the evening of February 7, 2017 is still being held.