AFRICA/BENIN - Bishop N'Dali: "Jihadists have announced further attacks"

Friday, 12 September 2025 jihadists local churches persecutions

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Cotonou (Agenzia Fides) – "The jihadists have announced further attacks. The population is very worried," says His Exc MSgr. Martin Adjou Moumouni, Bishop of N'Dali, the diocese in Benin, whose territory includes the village of Kalalé, which was attacked on September 10 by an jihadist group from neighboring Nigeria (see Fides, 11/9/2025).
"Their goal is to kidnap soldiers and police officers and then exchange them for their leader, who is imprisoned in Benin," explains Msgr. Adjou Moumouni.
"The fact that the security forces were the primary target of the more than 200 jihadists who attacked Kalalé is evident from their unsuccessful attempt to attack the local police station and how they also ambushed soldiers from a nearby military base by erecting a barrier on the road to the village. Thankfully, the shootings, at least as far as we know, resulted in no casualties among the civilian population or the security forces," the bishop continued.
"However, we are concerned about the fate of the six residents of the village of Kalalé who were kidnapped on September 10," the bishop added. "Surely they were taken to Nigeria, to the forest where the jihadists have their hideouts," Bishop Moumouni continues. "I can only imagine their torture as described to me yesterday by the chaplain who, along with four other people, was kidnapped on July 27 at the border between Benin and Nigeria. This man told me that he and his fellow sufferers were forced to walk blindfolded for long periods through the forest and even cross a river in a canoe before arriving at their place of detention."
"Of the five people kidnapped on July 27, two, including our chaplain, were released a few days ago. Together with the six people captured in Kalalé on September 10, a total of nine people are still in the hands of the jihadists," Bishop Moumouni emphasizes.
The Bishop of N'Dali emphasizes that "we are concerned because the jihadists are not only threatening to strike again in our region, but have also made it clear that they want to prevent the Church from continuing its pastoral activities."
"I am in contact with the military leaders who met with the government in Cotonou. They have promised to contact me to inform me of the measures being taken to guarantee the safety of the people of the diocese and to allow us to continue our pastoral work," the Bishop concludes. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 12/9/2025)