ICC Note: The kidnapping of a Christian pastor and his family occurred earlier this week. There are Islamic militants operating widely in the country, though no evidence exists yet to suggest they were responsible for the family’s disappearance. This is the second kidnapping of a church leader just in the last few weeks, violence by Islamic militants is increasing in the area, as well as shifting focus to civilians, not just civil agents.

06/08/2018 Burkina Faso (World Watch Monitor) – A Christian pastor and three members of his family have been kidnapped in Burkina Faso’s north-eastern province of Soum, two weeks after the kidnapping of another Christian leader and his wife.

Pierre Boena, a pastor with an Assembly of God church, was kidnapped during the evening of Sunday 3 June in his village of Bilhore, local sources told World Watch Monitor. Three members of his family – his son, his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter – were also abducted.

The circumstances of the kidnapping are not yet known, but Islamist militants are known to be active in the region.

Previously, on 20 May, a catechist at the parish of Arbinda (40km from Bilhore), was kidnapped, along with his wife, who tried to resist the attack.

The village of Bilhore is just 100km from Djibo, where an Australian couple were kidnapped 18 months ago. Ken and Jocelyn Elliott, had run a 120-bed clinic for 40 years until their abduction in January 2016. Jocelyn was released a month later, but her husband remains in captivity.

The kidnapping of the two Christian clerics have created an atmosphere of anxiety among Christian communities in the land-locked Sahel nation, seen as a model of tolerance in a troubled region.

The country’s 20 million inhabitants – predominantly Muslim (around 60%), but also with significant numbers of Christians (over 20%, the vast majority of whom are Catholics) and followers of indigenous beliefs (15%) – have long enjoyed peaceful co-existence.

Until recently, attacks carried out by Islamist militants only targeted military personnel and civil servants in the region, leaving civilians generally untroubled.

On 14 May, the prefect (chief administrator) of Oursi, in the northern province of Oudalan, was killed by unknown assailants, who also burned down his home.

Suspected Islamist militants have also set fire to schools and warned the teachers to stop teaching the French language (and instead teach only Arabic and Islamic lessons) in northern Burkina.

Since the beginning of 2017, one headteacher, as well as several other teachers and students, have been killed, while 216 schools have been closed down, leaving more than 24,000 children without education.

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