North Cameroon: Three Missionaries Kidnapped by Suspected Boko Haram Militants

The kidnapping at gunpoint took place on Friday April 4, 2014 night to Saturday at about 11:45 pm in the Far North Region of Cameroon. According to what we gathered the three missionaries (two Italian Priests) and (a Canadian Rev. Sister) were kidnapped at gunpoint. Militants of Islamic sect Boko Haram are suspected to have carried out the abduction, classified sources say. Italian foreign Ministry we have been informed has set up a crisis unit in relation to the kidnapping and its diplomatic missions in th nations capital, Yaounde have been alerted on the incident. According to the Italian Foreign Ministry, the two priests Giampaolo Marta and Gianantonio Allergri are from the Northern part of Italy, precisely Vicence.

Father Henri Djoyang of Tchere is quoted to have said that the (priests, sister) were kidnapped in the archdiocese of Tchere (approximately 20 km away from Maroua, Regional capital of the Far North). “It is bad, the Italian Priests and Canadian Sister have been kidnapped by Boko Haram”, Le Monde quotes a clergy to have decried. It should be recalled that last year, members of the Boko Haram sect abducted Georges Vandenbeusch, a French Priest and the Moulin-Fournier’s family who all later released. Allegations abound high that Boko Haram considers Cameroon as a source of financing and had adopted the attitude of kidnapping in order to out source for funding. Yet Yaounde refuted these allegations when a French Priest was released last year by militants of Boko Haram which has been ranked by the US as a terrorist group

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