Father Georges Vandenbeusch, a Fidei Donum priest who has worked in Cameroon for 3 years, was kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists on November 15. (Catholic Culture)
A Catholic missionary was murdered and several churches destroyed in Cameroon by Boko Haram Islamists in November.
World Watch Monitor reported, via Jihad Watch:
A missionary has been killed and several churches set ablaze in attacks by Nigeria’s Islamist group Boko Haram in neighbouring Cameroon.
The Nigerian missionary, David Dina Mataware, with the Christian Missionary Foundation (CMF), was killed on November 13 by suspected Boko Haram militants in Ashigashia, a village which straddles the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
He was murdered on the same day as thekidnapping of a French priest, Father Georges Vandenbeusch, but the death was not reported by the media, a church leader told World Watch Monitor, even though both incidents happened in the same area.
The kidnap was claimed by Boko Haram “in an operation co-ordinated with Ansaru”, its spokesman told Agence France Presse. Ansaru is a Boko Haram splinter group that has attacked several Western and Nigerian targets. It claimed responsibility for the kidnap and murder of seven international construction workers earlier in 2013.
Mataware had worked with CMF since 2010. CMF is a Nigeria-based mission agency active in Cameroon since 1989. Its ministry is focused on the tribes of Mandara, Kanouri and Guemergou in the district of Mora in northern Cameroon.
In April last year, churches were targeted by suspected Boko Haram militants. Some victims had their throats cut, while others were beaten to death or burned alive. Here is one of the survivors, whose name is being withheld to protect his security. (Cameroon Human Rights Monitoring)
