Boko-Haram Holding Kidnapped French Priest –

Boko Haram is holding a French
priest who was kidnapped in
northern Cameroon, a source in the
banned Nigerian Islamist group said
on Friday, rejecting claims of a rift
among the insurgents.
“I can confirm that the French priest
is in the hands of mujahideen
(fighters) from Jamaat Ahl al-Sunna
Li Da’wat al-Jihad, who carried out
the operation that was co-ordinated
with Ansaru,” he told AFP.
Boko Haram prefers to go by the
Arabic name, which translates as
“People Committed to the
Propagation of the Prophet’s
Teachings and Jihad” (holy war).
The United States on Wednesday
listed both Boko Haram and Ansaru
as terror groups, bowing to months
of pressure to act after years of
bloody violence in northeast and
central Nigeria that has left
thousands dead.
Hours after the declaration, heavily
armed men abducted Roman
Catholic priest Georges
Vandenbeusch from his home near
the town of Koza in northern
Cameroon, about 30 kilometres (20
miles) from the Nigerian border.
He was seized by about 15 people,
who burst into his Nguetchewe
parish base, according to the bishop
of the Nanterre diocese near Paris,
which has authority over the cleric.
The Boko Haram source, who did
not want to be identified, declined
also to say where the 42-year-old
priest was being held, after the
Cameroon authorities said they
feared he had been taken across the
border into Nigeria.
Speaking in Paris after talks with
Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe,
French President Francois Hollande
said Vandenbeusch had “most likely”
been taken to Nigeria.
“We are checking all the information
that we can get,” he told reporters,
adding that he would speak with his
counterpart in Cameroon, Paul Biya,
and vowing that France was doing
“all it could to find… and free” the
priest.
“The fight against terrorism is still
our main concern and common
purpose,” he added.
Vatican spokesman Federico
Lombardi described the kidnapping
as “an extremely serious and
horrible case, reflected the spread of
hatred and violence in the region.”
The Boko Haram source promised to
reveal more details about the
kidnapping “at the appropriate
time”.
But he added that claims of rifts
within the ranks of the insurgent
group, which has been linked to Al-
Qaeda’s operations in north and
western Africa, were exaggerated.
Boko Haram originally claimed to be
fighting for the creation of an
Islamic state in northern Nigeria and
has made suicide bombing and gun
attacks its trademark.
Ansaru has been linked to at least
three hostage-takings of foreigners
since 2011 and has mentioned
French intervention in Mali and
European nations’ “atrocities done
to the religion of Allah” when
claiming kidnappings.
“There is a deliberate attempt by the
enemies of Islam to portray Jamaat
Ahl al-Sunna Li Da’wat al-Jihad as
sharply divided,” the source said.
“What they don’t know or ignore is
that the two groups work closely
together and most of the operations
by the mujahideen are jointly carried
out by the mujahideen from both
sides.”
AFP tried to verify the Boko Haram
claim from other sources but there
was no immediate information
available from the authorities.
The kidnapping of Vandenbeusch,
who had been working in the area
for two years and had ignored
French government warnings about
the dangers of staying in the region,
brings to eight the total number of
French hostages held worldwide.
Four others are being held in Syria,
another in Nigeria and two in the
Sahel region on the southern fringes
of the Sahara desert.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/11/
boko-haram-holding-kidnapped-french-
priest-source/#sthash.PM47Trrk.dpuf

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