According to the bishop of the local diocese, armed men kidnapped an 83-year-old American nun, sister Suellen Tennyson, in northern Burkina Faso.
According to Kaya Bishop Theophile Nare in a statement released on Tuesday, “sister Suellen Tennyson was taken to an unknown destination by her kidnappers who, before leaving, vandalised rooms (and) sabotaged the community vehicle, which they tried to take.”
Per the statement, she was abducted on Monday night in the parish of Yalgo, which is part of the Kaya diocese, where she had been ministering in the Catholic congregation Marianites of Holy Cross since 2014.
The bishop stated that he was unaware of the identities of the kidnappers who kidnapped Tennyson.
Various armed organizations in Burkina Faso have taken over vast sections of the country, with some having ties to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
They regularly target the army and civilians. In 2019, a Canadian was discovered dead in the country after being kidnapped.
In a statement, the US Embassy in Burkina Faso said it was aware of allegations of a missing US citizen and that it was “working diligently with local authorities to verify these reports and is monitoring the situation.”
In two attacks in Yalgo (in the province of Soum) in November, about 70 people were killed, and it’s not far from Mali, where Human Rights Watch believes that over 100 civilians have been killed in recent months.
The military administration of Burkina Faso has stated that security is a primary concern, and this week unveiled a new strategy to bolster army operations against armed groups.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
