A US missionary working for an evangelical Christian organisation has been kidnapped in Niger’s capital Niamey, the US State Department has said, in the latest kidnapping of a foreign national in the country.
The US State Department confirmed the abduction to the AFP news agency on Wednesday, saying its embassy in Niamey was doing what it could to secure the man’s safe release.
The victim, a man in his 50s, was seized on Tuesday night and was “already en route for the border with Mali”, a diplomatic source told AFP.
The Reuters news agency, citing another diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man was a pilot for the evangelical organisation Serving in Mission (SIM).
SIM describes itself on its website as a “global mission family of more than 4,000 people, serving in more than 70 countries”, whose focus is on “taking the gospel to places where there are no, or very few, Christians”.
The diplomat said the victim was abducted by three unidentified men in Niamey’s Plateau neighbourhood as he was heading for the airport. The group then headed for Niger’s western Tillaberi region, where armed fighters linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda are known to operate.
In a post on X, Wamaps, a collective of journalists in West Africa, said the abducted man had been working in Niger since 2010, and had been kidnapped just a few streets away from the presidential palace in central Niamey. It said no group had yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping or claimed a ransom.
String of kidnappings
The abduction is the latest in a spate of kidnappings this year in Niger, a country that has been battling armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL for years. Security threats ramped up after the military toppled the country’s democratically elected government in July 2023.
In April, 67-year-old Swiss woman Claudia Abbt was kidnapped in the northern city of Agadez, three months after the abduction of Austrian Eva Gretzmacher, 73, in the same city. Neither has been released.
ISIL was considered responsible for the kidnappings, carried out by local criminal groups on its behalf, AFP reported, citing observers of armed groups in the region.
According to Wamaps, other abductions of foreign nationals this year have included four Moroccan truck drivers in January, two Chinese petroleum company workers in February, and five Indian power company technicians in April.
Niger is one of several West African countries battling armed conflict that has spread from Mali and Burkina Faso over the past 12 years, killing thousands of people and uprooting millions.
Following Niger’s 2023 military coup, US and French forces that had been involved in the fight against armed violence in the region were expelled from Niger, as the country turned to Russian mercenaries in an effort to maintain stability.
In May, General Michael Langley, the former head of the US Africa Command, said that the withdrawal had removed the US military’s “ability to monitor these terrorist groups closely, but [we] continue to liaison with partners to provide what support we can”.
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