Nigeriens call for American aid worker’s release, two years after his abduction
World Watch Monitor On the second anniversary of the disappearance of the American Christian aid worker Jeff Woodke from his home in Abalak, northern Niger, community leaders have called on Niger’s president to secure his release. Woodke, 57, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement, was abducted by unknown assailants late in the evening of […]
Jeff Woodke’s wife releases third video plea for news of her husband
World Watch Monitor Jeff Woodke had served in Niger for more than 29 years, providing food, water and other services to nomadic people. PICTURE: Facebook/Blaise Gaitou. The wife of an American missionary abducted 20 months ago in Africa’s Sahel region has put out a new video pleading for his safe return. In the four minute […]
US missionary, captive for 20 months, is alive, reports Niger’s president
World Watch Monitor A US missionary kidnapped in Niger in October, 2016 is alive, according to the West African nation’s president. Jeff Woodke, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement (JEMED), a branch of the US-based Youth With a Mission, was abducted by unknown assailants late in the evening of Friday, 14th October, […]
US hostage’s wife asks his African captors to contact her
World Watch Monitor The wife of a pioneering American missionary abducted nine months ago in Africa’s Sahel region has put out a video pleading for his safe return. In the 2 minute 26 second video released on Tuesday, Els Woodke expresses her despair and desire to be in touch with her husband’s kidnappers. Jeff Woodke, […]
Kidnapped missionaries appear in video posted by jihadist groups in Africa’s Sahel
World Watch Monitor A coalition of jihadist groups affiliated to al-Qaeda released a video showing six foreign hostages, including three missionaries, just hours before France President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Mali, where France agreed to help support anti-terrorist efforts in the Sahel. According to the US-based monitoring group SITE, the undated almost 17 minute footage was […]
Kidnap in Niger of US missionary a ‘terrible tragedy’
World Watch Monitor The kidnap of a pioneering American missionary in Niger is a “terrible tragedy” for the communities he served for 24 years, according to the local mayor. It has also raised security concerns among the country’s missionary community. Jeff Woodke, 55, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement (JEMED), a branch […]