Four people, including priest, kidnapped in southern Nigeria

November 7, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Warri, Nigeria, Nov 7, 2018 / 03:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic priest and three other persons were kidnapped in Nigeria’s Delta state Tuesday night, according to local media.

Fr. Emmanuel Obadjere and his companions were taken hostage by unknown gunmen Nov. 6 while on their way to Ekpoma, in neighboring Edo state, Pulse reports.

Fr. Obadjere is a priest of the Diocese of Warri, whose website says he was ordained June 26, 2008. According to Pulse, he is pastor of St. William’s parish in Orerokpe, about 10 miles northeast of Warri. It is at least 100 miles from Orerokpe to Epkoma.

Delta Commissioner of Police Muhammad Mustafa told Pulse Wednesday that a suspect has been arrested.

Last month, five nuns were abducted in Delta.

At least six priests have been kidnapped in the state this year.

Violence against Christians has significantly increased in Nigeria in recent years, with the radical Islamist group Boko Haram threatening safety in the north, and smaller violent gangs threatening security in the south.

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Rwandan troops block pilgrims from attending Ugandan martyr celebration

June 4, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Kigali, Rwanda, Jun 4, 2019 / 11:36 am (CNA).- Some 200 Rwandans were blocked by national troops from crossing the border with Uganda to attend a pilgrimage in the neighboring country on Monday.

The pilgrims were turned back amid ongoing tensions between leaders of the two countries.

Janinah Busingye, an official in one of Rwanda’s border towns, told AFP, “More than 200 Rwandans who were coming to attend Martyrs Day were stopped by the military from crossing to Uganda and sent back.”

One Rwandan pilgrim told AFP that her group was prohibited from crossing the border by officials who cited security reasons.

Rwanda has blocked people from crossing the border with Uganda for three months, according to the BBC. The closures have affected Rwandans living in border towns, who cross into Uganda to work and buy food.

While Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan President Paul Kagame supported each other during their country’s respective revolutions, they have had a tense relationship in recent months, each accusing the other nation of interference and mistreatment of its citizens.

The Feast of the Ugandan Martyrs is held annually on June 3. It is celebrated at a shrine built on the site where most of the martyrs were killed, about 10 miles northeast of downtown Kampala in Uganda.

Each year, the commemoration draws millions from around the globe, including Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Africa News.

The feast honors 24 Catholic martyrs from the country, 22 of whom were killed between 1885 and 1887 under King Mwanga of Buganda (now a part of Uganda), and two others who were killed in 1918 in Northern Uganda. Twenty-three Anglican Ugandans were also killed for their Christian faith within the same time period.

The martyrs were primarily pages in the court of King Mwanga, who grew increasingly intolerant of Christianity, likely for two reasons: he saw it as a threat to his power, and he resented the young Christian pages who rejected his sexual advances.

The Christian converts were tortured and executed by the king. Popular devotion to the martyrs remained strong in the country, and they were beatified June 6, 1920. Bl. Paul VI canonized the group Oct. 18, 1964.

Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Rwanda celebrated Mass at St. Charles Lwanga Parish in Kigali for pilgrims who were unable to attend the Ugandan commemoration, AFP reported.

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