US special forces are said to have rescued a Louisiana nun who was kidnapped by gunmen in Burkina Faso five months ago.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley first announced Tuesday that Special Operations Forces have “recovered another hostage” while speaking at a ceremony marking the change in Special Forces Command from Army Gen. Richard Clarke to Army Gen. Bryan Fenton .
Almost immediately thereafter, both the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans and Bishop Theophile of the Diocese of Kaya in Burkina Faso announced that Sister Suellen Tennyson, 83, had been released.
She was taken hostage by a group of unidentified gunmen in April. The area is known as a hotbed of militant groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Military officials have not yet confirmed that Tennyson is the hostage freed by Special Operations Forces, but NOLA.com reports that she is now in US custody in Niamey, the Niger capital.
Her fellow Marianite nuns have since posted on Facebook that they are working with the FBI to “facilitate the re-entry process” into the US.
Sister Suellen Tennyson, 83, left, was released from captivity earlier this week
The announcement that she was free came shortly after General Mark Milley revealed that US special forces had “recovered another hostage”.
Tennyson, a native of Louisiana, has served as a missionary in Burkina Faso since 2014, helping starving and malnourished children in the area.
According to WDSU, on the night of April 4, she was abducted by a group of at least 10 unidentified gunmen from her monastery in Yalgo, where she lived in a community with other religious women.
Tennyson was asleep when the men stormed in and looted the facility, Marianite Sister Ann Lacour wrote in a circular at the time.
“They destroyed almost everything in the house, shot holes in the new truck and tried to burn it,” she said. “The house itself is fine, but its contents are ruined.”
Lacour added that she was told by two of the younger women that Tennyson was taken right out of her bed with no glasses, shoes, phone, medicine, etc.
Subsequently, the Archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory M. Aymond, issued a statement calling for their safe return.
“For many years, Sr. Suellen has done great work of service to the people of the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” he said at the time. “Today we express our sadness and shock at her abduction and pray for her safe return.”
Since then there has been no news of her whereabouts, but on Tuesday Lacour told the Clarion Herald, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, that Tennyson was “safe.”
“She’s exhausted,” said Lacour, a US congressional leader for the Marian Order of the Holy Cross.
“I’ve told her how much people love her and she doesn’t have to worry,” Lacour continued. “I told her, ‘You’re alive and safe. That’s all that counts.”
Lacour noted that at this point she was awaiting a full health evaluation before returning to the United States.
“Thank God,” the archdiocese posted on Facebook on Tuesday evening.
Tennyson has served as a missionary in Burkina Faso since 2014, helping starving and malnourished children in the region
Before traveling to Africa, Tennyson was a teacher and principal at several Louisiana Catholic schools
She is now in US custody in Nigeria, where she is staying while her fellow sisters work with the FBI to facilitate “the re-entry process” back to the US
Before traveling to Africa, Tennyson was a teacher and principal at several Louisiana Catholic schools.
She eventually became Superior General of the worldwide Marian Order, but said she only found her calling after Bishop Thomas Kabore invited Marian nuns to plant a parish and help run the newly established Blessed John Paul II Center in 2014.
But in recent years, violence has increased in the region amid mounting political unrest – and the town of Yalgo, where Tennyson was based, bordered an area where armed groups have been particularly active and attacks on civilians have increased.
The area was attacked by Islamic extremists back in June, reports Voice of America, and has become a hotbed for al Qaeda and ISIS operations.
Eventually, NOLA.com reports, the Marianites encouraged Tennyson to return home, but her sense of spiritual duty compelled her to stay.