Nearly two months since American missionary pilot Kevin Rideout was kidnapped from his home in the highly secure Château 1 neighborhood of Niamey in the capital of Niger in West Africa, local Christians say they are worried about the silence around efforts to rescue him.
“[This] leaves a feeling of apprehension, fear and uncertainty,” Father Augustine Anwuchie, a Nigerian Fidei Donum priest serving as a missionary in the Diocese of Maradi in Niger, told OSV News, a Catholic outlet, in a recent interview. “This case seems to be taking longer, and no one knows the culprits nor the whereabouts of the victim.”
Rideout, a 48-year-old married father, was working with the United States-headquartered Serving In Mission, also known as SIM, when he was kidnapped in October. A report from Radio France Internationale said the missionary pilot was reportedly abducted on Oct. 21 by three men near the grand Bravia Hotel, in the city center, just a few hundred meters from the presidential palace.
SIM did not immediately respond to calls from The Christian Post on Thursday, but a source working for SIM in Niger, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they haven’t received much information either.
“Until now, we haven’t heard [much about] the news of the kidnapped pilot. We only heard he was kidnapped. … We don’t know the name of the group that kidnapped him yet,” the source stated.
Officials with the U.S. State Department in Niamey previously stated that securing Rideout’s release was a “top priority for the Trump Administration.” The Washington Post reported last month, however, that diminished diplomatic relationships in the predominantly Muslim country with growing Islamic State influence have made rescuing Rideout more challenging.
“We have fewer partner relationships and fewer assets,” a former U.S. official involved in past hostage rescues in the Sahel region of Africa told the newspaper. “We are less equipped than we would have been in the past to find him.”
Last year, U.S. troops were unceremoniously booted out of Niger, and American drone bases were shut down. Since the missionary pilot’s kidnapping, current and former officials with knowledge of the situation told The Washington Post that interagency calls were being held three times a week with more than 200 people.
“This administration is very practical,” one of the current U.S. officials said. “The questions are: What do we need to do to get him back? What are the steps?”
Both Rideout and his brother Ian have worked as pilots for SIM, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to a 2014 report from The Wellesley Townsman.
“The brothers fly mission personnel and equipment and supplies within Niger and across west Africa, helping to facilitate the work of numerous organizations in one of the world’s least developed countries,” that report said.
“Their work involves supporting drilling wells to provide clean water; aiding refugees from war-torn countries; reforestation and land reclamation projects; hospitals; aiding flood victims; teaching literacy; enabling widows to start micro enterprises or caring for orphans, all bringing hope to people across the region.”
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