Diocese of Nkongsamba announces release of Priest, 2 Franciscan Brothers ⁰

The Catholic Diocese of Nkongsamba has announced the safe release of a Priest and two members of the Fraternity of Franciscans of Emmanuel (FFE) who were reportedly abducted in the country’s North-West Region.

In the letter that the Diocesan Chancellor, Abbé Luc Roger Dodo issued on Wednesday, July 1, the Diocese gives thanks to God for the release of Fr. John Bosco Bihkong and Brothers Sylvester Sewong and Marie Rodrigue, who were kidnapped during the night of Saturday, June 27.

“Thank you to everyone for your prayers and expressions of support, which have borne fruit,” Fr. Dodo says in the letter quoting the psalmist, “Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.”

In a Tuesday, June 30 statement, the Vicar General of the Cameroonian Episcopal See announced the kidnapping of the three.

According to Mons. Joseph Tchinda Dountio, Fr. Bihkong had traveled to his native village of Melim, near Ndop in the North-West Region of Cameroon, to celebrate his first Mass on Friday, June 26.

He was accompanied by Br. Sylvester Sewong, Guardian of the FFE convent in Kékem, and Br. Marie Rodrigue Sop, who is preparing for a perpetual profession. The three were abducted the following night.

No details were provided regarding the identity of the kidnappers, their motives, or whether contact had been established with the abductors.

Cameroon’s North-West Region is one of the two English-speaking regions that have experienced years of insecurity linked to the country’s Anglophone crisis.

Clergy, women and men Religious, and other civilians have periodically been targeted in abductions as violence has persisted in the region.

Source: aciAfrica