A priest from Germany has been kidnapped in Mali. The cleric Hans-Joachim Lohre was preparing for a service in another part of the capital Bamako on Sunday when he was kidnapped, said Dia Monique Pare from the Institute for Christian-Islamic Education. A neighbor reported that he had seen a black car without number plates in the courtyard of the institute, which had disappeared after Lohre was kidnapped.
Pare said investigators later found Lohre’s necklace, which appears to have been cut off. “The door of his car was open and there were footprints on the ground like someone had fought,” Pare said. Lohre has been working in Mali for more than 30 years and teaches at the Institute for Christian-Islamic Education.
No one initially claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. Suspicion fell on Islamist terrorists who have repeatedly kidnapped foreigners in order to extort ransom. However, it would be the first time since the Islamists’ uprising began more than ten years ago that they have kidnapped a foreigner in the capital, Bamako.
So far, clergymen from abroad have been kidnapped in remote parts of the West African country, including a missionary couple from Italy and their son. Last year, a Colombian nun was released after four years of being held hostage.
