SW News: An octogenarian American Catholic missionary nun, serving as a missionary in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, was reportedly kidnapped by unidentified armed men on the night of April 4.

Sr Suellen Tennyson, 83, a member of the Marianites of the Holy Cross congregation, was serving at Yalgo Parish in Kaya diocese. Armed men stormed her residence of her community and abducted her. Bishop Theophile Nare, the local ordinary, said in a statement, "Suellen Tennyson was taken away to an unknown destination by her kidnappers, who before leaving vandalized rooms and sabotaged the community's vehicle.”

The bishop also exhorted believers to pray for the safe release of Sr Tennyson and for her religious community. The missing nun had been a missionary in Kaya diocese since 2014. Yalga is situated 110 kilometers away from Kaya, which is the capital of the Centre-North region.

Burkina Faso is a landlocked low-income country in West Africa with 61% of its population practising Islam and 19 per cent professing Roman Catholicism. Hardline Islamist outfits have gained prominence in the country over the past few years, taking advantage of the weak central government, according to Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors USA. In areas where such outfits hold sway, Christian believers and establishments are often targeted. According to estimates, there are about a million displaced people in the country and most of them are Christians.