Tag: Niger

Niger: US aid worker Jeff Woodke faced ‘brutal’ treatment in captivity

April 4, 2023 Niger Al-Qaeda, Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, Jeff Woodke, Ken Elliott, Mali, Niger, USA

Jeff Woodke with his wife Els addressing the media after his release, in McKinleyville, CA,on 31 March 2023

Jeff Woodke, the US Christian aid worker who was released from captivity in West Africa last month, has told reporters that that his abductors treated him “brutally and with inhumanity” during the “6 years, 5 months, 5 days and [some] 12 hours” they held him. Woodke had been living and . . . Read More

Niger: US aid worker Jeff Woodke released

March 20, 2023 Niger Abalak, Burkina Faso, Jeff Woodke, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Mali, Niger

Jeff Woodke (Photo: Woodke's Facebook page)

After more than six years in captivity in West Africa, longtime American Christian aid worker Jeff Woodke has been released. His wife, Els Woodke, was told Jeff was “in good condition,” according to a statement on a website campaigning for his release. “She has expressed her profound thanks to the . . . Read More

Swiss woman, hostage almost 5 years, killed by Islamist extremists in Mali

October 10, 2020 Mali Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Beatrice Stockli, Burkina Faso, Gloria Argoti, Islamic extremism, Jeff Woodke, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Niger

Beatrice Stockli settled in Timbuktu in 2000 and was first kidnapped for 10 days in 2012

A Swiss missionary Beatrice Stockli – kidnapped from Timbuktu in northern Mali in January 2016 – was killed only weeks before other hostages were freed by Islamist extremists, in an apparent prisoner-hostage swap negotiated by the new transitional government in Mali. News of her execution came from Sophie Petronin, a . . . Read More

Burkina Faso: 5 leaders killed in 3 months as Islamists continue to target churches

May 16, 2019 Burkina Faso Ansar ul Islam, Arbinda, Burkina Faso, Dablo, Islamic extremism, Niger, Oudalan, Singa, Sirgadji, Soum

Church leaders as well as government officials and representatives of the Muslim community attended the funeral of the six killed in the Dablo attack. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

At least ten more Christians have been killed as a spate of attacks on churches continues in northern Burkina Faso. The ten, who died in two attacks on 12 and 13 May, include another Catholic priest, Siméon Yampa. On Monday, 13 May, a procession of four Catholics was attacked while . . . Read More

Nigeriens call for Jeff Woodke’s release, 2 years after his abduction

November 13, 2018 Niger Abalak, Jeff Woodke, MUJAO, Niger

On the second anniversary of the disappearance of the American Christian aid worker Jeff Woodke from his home in Abalak, northern Niger, community leaders have called on Niger’s president to secure his release. Woodke, 57, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement (JEMED), was abducted by unknown assailants . . . Read More

Abduction of Italian priest shocks Niger

September 20, 2018 Niger Kidnapping, Mahamadou Issoufou, Missionaries, Niamey, Niger, Pier Luigi Maccalli

Italian priest Pier Luigi Maccalli, freed in Mali, worked in SW Niger till his kidnap in Sep 2018

In Niger, the abduction of an Italian priest in the southwest of the country has left the communities he served for 11 years in shock and sorrow. Fr. Pier Luigi Maccalli, 57, was kidnapped by unknown armed men on Monday night in his parish of Bamoanga, about 125km from the . . . Read More

Jeff Woodke’s wife releases third video plea for news of her husband

June 29, 2018 Niger Abalak, Jeff Woodke, Kidnapping, Mahamadou Issoufou, Niger, Sahel

The wife of an American missionary abducted 20 months ago in Africa’s Sahel region has put out a new video pleading for his safe return. In the 4’10’’ footage released on Tuesday (26 June), in French, Els Woodke reiterated her despair and desire to be in touch with her husband’s . . . Read More

US missionary, captive for 20 months, is alive, reports Niger’s president

June 7, 2018 Niger Abalak, Jeff Woodke, Mahamadou Issoufou, MUJAO, Niger, Sahel, West Africa

A US missionary kidnapped in Niger in October 2016 is alive, according to the West African nation’s president. Jeff Woodke, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement (JEMED) was abducted by unknown assailants late in the evening of Friday 14 October, 2016, from the town of Abalak in . . . Read More

Boko Haram sets churches on fire in latest attack on Cameroon’s Far North

January 29, 2018 Cameroon Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Churches, Far North, IDPs, Mayo-Tsanaga, Muhammadu Buhari, Niger, Nigeria, UN

Residents of Roum village in the Far North region of Cameroon woke up to two churches and many houses ablaze on the night of 15 January. The fire was claimed by Boko Haram militants, who had stormed the village late at night. Four people were killed. Apart from the Union . . . Read More

Niger’s churches rebuilt, but West African nation ‘no longer tolerant’

January 24, 2018 Niger Charlie Hebdo, Mahamadou Issoufou, Niamey, Niger, Sahel, Trauma, West Africa

In Niger new buildings have emerged from the rubble of churches destroyed three years ago in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. On the weekend of 16-17 January, 2015, more than 70 churches were ransacked by hundreds of angry Islamists, who were said to be angered at . . . Read More

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