An Italian priest
working in Niger has been kidnapped in Niger, probably by
Islamist extremists, a fellow clergyman told the Fides agency on
Tuesday.
"On the night between Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 September,
Father Pierluigi Maccalli of the Society of African Missions
(SMA) was kidnapped by suspected jihadists active in the area,"
Father Mauro Armanino, a missionary in Niamey, Niger, told
Fides.
"The area has been in a state of emergency for several months
die to the presence of terrorists from Mali and Burkina Faso".
Maccalli, who was originally from the diocesis of the
northern Italian town of Crema and had previous worked as a
missionary in Ivory Coast, was in the parish of Bomoanga, in the
Niamey diocesis.
Italy's embassy in Niger has formally asked local authorities
to give "absolute priority" to the rapid solution of the case,
the foreign ministry in Rome said Tuesday.
The embassy has urged the authorities to "avoid initiatives
that may put at risk Father Maccalli's safety", the ministry
said.
Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi is in constant contact
with the foreign ministry's crisis unit which, with other State
organs, has been following Father Maccalli's case since the
beginning, the ministry said.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
