CATHOLIC PRIEST IS KIDNAPPED

November Caribbean Memo 2013

Date: 01-November-2013

From: News Center Publications

Dear Friends,

A French Roman Catholic priest has been kidnapped from a parish church in a small African town in northern Cameroon.

That’s according to TV5Monde, a French-language television report and confirmed by Reuters, an English-language wire-service news story.

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (French: Republique du Cameroun), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by six countries including Nigeria to the west and the South Atlantic Ocean.

A Roman Catholic Church official in Paris, France, provided some detail following the kidnapping of the 42-year-old priest, Georges Vandenbeusch.

The spokesman said he was able to alert the French embassy by phone of the attack.

Some 15 gunmen reportedly stormed the parish church of Nguetchewe, about six miles from the Nigerian border,  marched him bare-foot across the village and later demanded ransom for his return.

Authorities believe a Nigerian Islamist sect called ‘Boko Haram’ may have been responsible. The group seized a French family in the same area nine months earlier.

While two-thirds of the nation’s population is Christian, Islam dominates in the north, where the kidnapping took place.

If you are interested in knowing more about Islam, we invite

you to read our just published novel, “Al-Maghred, the Barbary Lion.”

We talk about these matters because we’re interested in telling a story about the world centered on our interest in the Caribbean and Latin America and its extension to other parts of the world.

As a result, we think we’ve done that with the publication of six historical-political novels. They can be viewed on our WebSite.

To find them, click News Center Publications after reaching the Web address: ‘natcarnes.com.’ Once there click: Amazon.com.

This Caribbean Memo and a Memo collection can also be found on the Website by clicking “Memo.”

Remember, we are interested in your comments, pro and con. In other words, that's how we learn.

And please let us know if you want your name taken off the Caribbean Memo list.

The Editors