Mali: German priest missing in Bamako
General view of Bamako, capital of Mali.
HABIBOU KOUYATE / AFP
Text by: David Baché
2 mins
Father Hans Joachim Lohre, nicknamed Father Ha-Yo, has lived in Mali for thirty years, he teaches at Ific, the Institute of Islamo-Christian formation in Bamako.
Father Ha-Yo did not go to the mass he was expected to attend on Sunday morning.
He has since remained unreachable and untraceable.
His disappearance was reported to the Malian police.
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He never arrived at Sainte Monique parish in Kalabankoura, where he was to attend mass.
Father Hans Joachim Lohre, nicknamed Father Ha-Yo, lives and teaches at Ific, the Islamic-Christian Training Institute of Bamako (Ific).
Sunday morning, according to several relatives including a leader of Ific, Father Ha-Yo first left by car, before returning quickly to get something in his room.
His vehicle has not left and the cross that the German priest usually carries on him was found on the ground, near the vehicle, where his colleagues say they have also spotted unusual traces, "
as if there had been an altercation
" , says one of them.
The Malian police have been notified and a search has reportedly been initiated.
The German Embassy did not wish to communicate any details and referred to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The track of a hostage-taking by a jihadist group cannot be excluded, but, in the city of Bamako, it seems very improbable.
Villainous kidnapping?
A gesture of animosity towards the Christian community?
In recent weeks, inter-religious tensions have emerged in Mali, fueled mainly by isolated statements on social networks, but which have provoked strong reactions in the Muslim and Christian communities.
At this stage, no hypothesis is favored by his relatives who specify that Father Hans Joachim Lohre had "
no known conflict with
anyone ", that he has lived in Mali for more than thirty years, that before to enter Ific three years ago, he attended different parishes, taught at the Bamako wing of the Catholic University of West Africa and that he was always personally involved in "
reduce inter-religious tensions
” and “
promote living together.
»
►Also read: Mali: the five Christians kidnapped in the Mopti region are free
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