US missionary abducted in Niger’s capital, State Department confirms

In the most recent kidnapping of a foreign national in Niger, the US State Department has reported that a US missionary working for an evangelical Christian organization has been abducted in Niamey.

On Wednesday, the US State Department confirmed the abduction to the AFP news agency, claiming that Niamey’s embassy was doing everything to secure the man’s safe release.

A senior official told AFP that the victim, a 50-year-old man, was being “already on the verge of the Mali border.”

The man was a pilot for the evangelical organization Serving in Mission (SIM), according to a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

More than 4, 000 people from SIM’s “global mission family, serving in more than 70 countries,” with a focus on “bringing the gospel to places where there are no, or very few Christians,” describes itself on its website.

As the victim approached the airport, the diplomat claimed three unidentified men kidnapped him in Niamey’s Plateau neighborhood. The group then made the journey to the western Tillaberi region of Niger, where al-Qaeda and armed fighters are known to operate.

The abducted man was reported to have been working in Niger since 2010 and had been abducted just a few streets from the presidential palace in central Niamey in a post on X by Wamaps, a group of journalists in West Africa. No organization claimed a ransom or was yet to be claimed for the kidnapping, according to the statement.

a number of kidnappings

Niger, a nation that has long been fighting armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL, has recently experienced a wave of kidnappings this year. After the military resurrected the country’s democratically elected government in July 2023, security threats increased.

Three months after the abduction of Austrian Eva Gretzmacher, 73, in the same city, 67-year-old Swiss woman Claudia Abbt was abducted in Agadez, three months later. neither has been made public.

According to AFP’s report, ISIL was cited as the perpetrator of the kidnappings carried out by local criminal organizations on its behalf, citing armed group observers in the area.

In addition to the abductions of foreign nationals this year, four Moroccan truck drivers were killed in January, two workers from China’s oil company were killed in February, and five technicians from Indian power companies were killed in April, according to Wamaps.

Niger is just one of the several West African nations that has fought armed conflict in Mali and Burkinabe over the past 12 years, killing thousands and causing millions to be displaced.

In an effort to maintain stability, Niger turned to Russian mercenaries as a result of its 2023 military coup, which resulted in the expulsion of US and French forces from the region.