Five Catholics reported missing in Mali

They were expected to be at a priest’s funeral in San, northwest of Mali’s capital of Bamako. But they never made it to their destination.

Father Léon Dougnon and four of his parishioners left from their parish in the Diocese of Mopti on Monday (June 21) to attend the funeral of Father Oscar Tehrea the next day in the Diocese of San.

"One of Father Dougnon's friends received several missed calls. When he called back, a voice answered 'As-salam alaykom',” said Father Kizito Togo, pastor of the Mopti cathedral.

“And then we said to ourselves that they had surely been kidnapped," the priest told La Croix Africa.

Since then, Dougnon’s cell phone seems to be off. No more calls are being made.

No one has claimed responsibility for the alleged kidnapping of the priest and his four parishioners.

But a prefect was attacked in the same region on the very same day, and his vehicle was stolen.

"In his case, he was let go, but in the case of Father Dougnon and his delegation, neither the vehicle nor its passengers have yet been found," said Father Togo.

Since 2012, there has been a serious security crisis in central and northern Mali, a West African country of some 19 million people. 

Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MLA) seized parts of the north and center of the country on January 17, 2012. 

They were later joined by the Salafists of Ansar Dine, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), 

In large part, these jihadist groups were driven out by the French army's Operation Barkhane, which has been present in the country since 2013 and whose imminent end was announced by Emmanuel Macron in early June.

Despite this, violence continues with sporadic attacks and kidnappings.

Inter-community violence

In the part of the country dominated by the Dogon peoples, including Mopti, there is inter-community violence with religious overtones. Feuds between the Dogon and Faluni peoples have only heightened insecurity.

It reached its peak in 2019 with two very bloody attacks.

In Ogossagou, in the Mopti region, which is a predominantly Fulani and Muslim area, unknown individuals dressed in traditional Dogon hunter's clothing, armed with guns and riding motorcycles carried out an attack on March 23 of that year, killing 160 people.

Then some months later -- on the night of June 9 -- unidentified gunmen attacked the predominantly Catholic village of Sobane (also in the Mopti region), killing 35 people, including 24 children.

Negotiations

The principal jihadist group operating in central Mali is the Katibat Macina, affiliated with the Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin' [Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM)] and led by Amadou Koufa.

Koufa has said he is in favor of negotiations with the Mali government.

The government is officially reluctant to have any negotiations with the terrorists, but a few months ago in Farabougou, in central Mali, a mediation was organized by the High Islamic Council with emissaries from the Katibat Macina.