A Kenyan Catholic priest, Father Cosmas Omboto Ondari, has been reported dead after a shooting in Manyu, Cameroon, with the Mill Hill Missionaries saying soldiers were responsible.
The priest, who came from Kisii County, was serving as the Parochial Vicar at St Martin of Tours Parish in Kembong, the headquarters of Manyu, when he was killed.
In a statement, Father Richard Njoroge of the St Joseph Missionary Society Mill Hill Missionary Formation Center in Cameroon confirmed the death and described Ondari as a fellow missionary priest from Kenya.
“With heavy and broken hearts, the Mill Hill Missionaries in Cameroon confirm the death of our brother and fellow Mill Hill missionary priest from Kenya Fr. Cosmas Omboto Ondari,” the statement said.
The formation center said Ondari was ordained on March 26, 2017. It also said he was shot twice, with one account placing the attack at about 3PM on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, near the church.
According to the report, the priest was hit on the left side of the chest and around his private part. He died at the scene and was later taken to Mamfe District Hospital Mortuary at about 6PM.
Father Njoroge, citing an unnamed source, said the soldiers fled in a speeding military vehicle after the shooting. The claims could not be independently verified.
Further details from the Mill Hill Missionaries said Mr Guylain Agbasoa, a missionary student from Congo, was present when the shooting began but managed to take cover inside a house.
“A few minutes later when he came looking for Cosmas whom he had left outside the church with a group of Christians talking, he was shocked to find Cosmas in a pool of blood by the door of the church!” the statement said.
The killing came as Cameroon continued to face violence linked to armed separatists. Ondari had been assigned to the area as a missionary.
His death also came seven days after another Kenyan priest, Father Victor Luka Odhiambo, was tortured and murdered at the Mazzolari Church in South Sudan. The report further noted that another American missionary, Charles Trumann, had been laid to rest 11 days earlier after being allegedly shot dead by the military.
Ondari had been ordained in Kisii by Bishop Joseph Mairura before his appointment to Cameroon, where he later died.
