Madagascar bishops urge military government to end child kidnappings

While police say more than 160 minors have been found and returned to their families, another 84 remain missing, raising concerns about the country’s security after last October’s military coup.

Bishops in Madagascar voiced alarm over the rising numbers of killings and kidnappings of children since the beginning of the year. 

According to the police, 172 people have been unaccounted for between January and June, prompting Church leaders to raise concerns about the deteriorating security situation since last year’s military coup. 

Officials say the capital Antananarivo and its surrounding areas have been particularly affected by this wave of crime, with eight children killed and dumped in the past six months in unexplained circumstances. 

While police say more than 160 minors have since been found and returned to their families, another 84 remain missing, raising concerns about the country’s security after last October’s military coup.

The bishops issued a strongly worded statement calling for government to act on what they said was a “tragic reality”.

“We cannot remain mere spectators in the face of this tragic reality and these waves of killings taking place here and there, whose perpetrators remain unknown,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Madagascar said in a statement dated 13 July.

According to local reports, angry citizens have taken the law into their own hands and lynched individuals suspected of kidnapping children.

The military authorities have blamed the crisis on “terrorism”, with the acting president Colonel Michael Randrianirina warning “whoever is behind this that I will destroy them”. 

The bishops pleaded with affected communities to desist from seeking revenge and urged the military government to do more to address the crisis.

“We are aware of the efforts you are already making to ease the suffering of the population, but let your actions speak louder than your words,” said the statement signed by Bishop Jean Pascal Andriantsoavina of Antsirabé, vice president of the bishops’ conference.

Madagascar has suffered widespread insecurity since the military coup of October last year. The bishops called for full investigations to “ensure that the truth about the causes of this terror is fully uncovered, so that the investigation does not simply fade away, as has happened too often in the past”.

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