Five abducted Christians in Mali have been freed
The five Christians abducted in Mali on Monday have now been freed, reports Catholic News Agency. “The five kidnapped victims were dropped off at the roadside between Bankass and Bandiagara, in the village of Parou within the Diocese of Mopti,” stated the news agency, adding that the men were released on Wednesday, two days after they went missing.
Father Léon Dougnon, the parish priest of Ségué, Thimothé Somboro, the village chief of Ségué, Pascal Somboro, deputy mayor, and two other members of the community, Emmanuel Somboro and Boutié Tolofoudié, left their parish in the Diocese of Mopti on Monday to attend the funeral of Father Oscar Tehrea. The group never showed up to the funeral and were later confirmed to have been abducted by unnamed gunmen.
French News Station RFI noted that the region where the group went missing is a “stronghold of the Katiba Macina jihadist group.”
Open Doors listed Mali as the 28th most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian in 2021. Islamic extremists have been able to overtake areas with weak governmental leadership and have capitalised on vulnerabilities created by COVID-19.
Source: persecution.org
