ICC Note: 

An Australian surgeion  who is in his eighties and has  served people in Burkina Faso for 40 years was kidnapped by Islam Exremists earlier in 2016.  Almost a year later, he remains in captivity and his where about, unknown.   Burkina Faso is part of the Sahel region in Africa (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea) that is seeing an increased Islamic extremism.  Burkina Faso borders Mali and Niger where other   western missionaries have been kidnapped. Most recently,  Jeff Woodke an  American pastor in Niger was kidnapped from  his home on October 14, 2016. His abductors killed two people before escaping with him. It is believed that they have taken him to Mali.  He has not been seen since then.

12/1/2016 Burkina Faso ( World Watch Monitor) – An Australian surgeon kidnapped by jihadists in Burkina Faso nearly two years ago, and whose whereabouts remain unknown, has been declared a citizen of the West African nation, an official decree announced on Wednesday (17 Nov.).

Ken Elliot was abducted along with his wife Jocelyn in January 2015 by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists from the northern town of Djibo, near the border with Mali and Niger.

The Christian couple, in their eighties, had run the sole medical clinic there since 1972.

Joceyln Elliot was released by her captors this February, but her husband has not been seen and it is believed he is being held outside Burkina Faso.

The kidnapping – claimed by the Islamist group Ansar Dine – prompted an outpouring of support for the Elliots. The people of Djibo pleaded for the couple’s release on Facebook, and hundreds of students with placards reading “Free Elliot” took to the streets of the town with their teachers.

…