Cameroon (ODM) — Due to the ongoing, current violence in Central African Republic, Mission Network News found it necessary to share this updated information from Open Doors USA via World Watch Monitor.
For those who are unaware of the continuous threatening activity, Boko Haram is Nigeria’s Islamic terrorist group. Creating havoc wherever they go, their boundaries are no longer confined to Nigeria. Based on this report, they are creeping into surrounding countries.
Cameroon: French Priest Kidnapped by Boko Haram – from World Watch Monitor.
French priest Georges Vandenbeusch abducted in northern Cameroon is said to be in the hands of Boko Haram. “I can confirm that the French priest is in the hands of Mujahideen [fighters] from Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad [Boko Haram’s Arabic name], who carried out the operation that was coordinated with Ansaru,” an anonymous source told the AFP news agency on Friday.
Ansaru is a Boko Haram splinter group that has attacked several Western and Nigerian targets. It claimed responsibility
for the kidnap and murder of seven international construction workers earlier in 2013. Last week, the USA named Boko Haram and Ansaru as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, making it a crime for any US national to provide them with material support.
Father Vandenbeusch, 42, was kidnapped on Thursday in Goza, near his parish of Nguetchewe in northern Cameroon, about 22 miles from the Nigerian border. According to witnesses and officials in Cameroon, the abduction was carried out at night by between 10 and 20 gunmen. The attackers, who are said to have spoken English and Hausa, attacked nuns in
the compound, asking for money before heading to Father Vandenbeusch’s house. Northern Cameroon is considered a “red zone” by the French authorities. French nationals are formally discouraged from visiting the area due to terrorist threats and the risk of kidnapping.
Pray that through these hardships, Christ will remain at the center. Pray that believers will stand strong in their faith through the trials.
