Terrorism in Africa hits home in McCook

Monday, January 18, 2016

McCOOK, Neb. -- The heartache of the loss of a dear friend goes deep. It's deepened when that friend is a servant of God killed in a senseless terrorist attack halfway around the world. It hurts when terrorism "somewhere else" hits so close to home ...

The friend of McCook residents was killed in a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso, West Africa Friday. Another narrowly escaped.

Tenielle Lytle Yelkouni is a native of McCook, and her husband, Barto Yelkouni, is a native of Burkina Faso, the West African country whose capital city was targeted by al-Qaeda terrorists late Friday. Tenielle and Barto's dear friend, 45-year-old Mike Riddering was among those killed in an attack on the Cappuccino Cafe, a favorite gathering place for Westerners in Ouagadougou. Their friend, Pastor Rakistaba Valentin, became separated from Mike and hid in the cafe all night. He was rescued in the morning by security forces.

Barto posted on Facebook on Saturday, "What can we say? All we can say is that Mike is now with Jesus praising God with peace!!! Who is really Mike? He is (an) amazing servant of God who has mercy for everyone .... "

Tenielle writes, "Mike is with Jesus. Please pray for all of his family and all the people that love him so much."

Mike Riddering and his wife, Amy, moved to Yako -- about 1 1/2 hours from the capitol city -- five years ago from Hollywood, Florida, to direct the Sheltering Wings orphanage and to run a women's crisis center. It is Mike whom Michelle Lytle of McCook, Tenielle's mother, credits with helping her daughter and her son-in-law during tough times at the orphanage at which the four worked and lived.

Michelle said that Mike was by Barto's side when he was injured seriously in a car accident. And he was instrumental in getting medical help for Tenielle when she suffered from typhoid fever.

Pastor Valentin is a very dear friend of Tenielle and Barto and of Tenielle's family in McCook. He attended Tenielle's and Barto's wedding in McCook in September. Michelle said, "Pastor Valentin calls Tim and me 'mother' and 'father.' We call him 'son.'"

Mike Riddering's brother, from St. Louis, Missouri, also attended Tenielle's and Barto's wedding.

According to a news story released Saturday, Riddering and Pastor Valentin had traveled to Ouagadougou and were eating at the local restaurant across the street from the Hotel Splendid when militants attacked.

A French survivor told an Associated Press reporter that attackers entered the restaurant and started to shoot at everyone. "We dropped to the ground and as soon as anyone raised their heads, they fired at them immediately. We had to play dead. They shook people by the foot to see if they were alive or not, and if they were alive, they shot them." She continued, "When they went upstairs, they set the place on fire and left via the roof. The room was completely on fire and it was impossible to breath."

A Slovenian woman told a Reuters reporter, "We heard shots, grenades, detonations. It was echoing and extremely loud. They kept coming back and forth into Cappuccino. So you'd think, 'It's over,' then they'd come back and shoot more people. They would come back and see if the white people were moving and then they would shoot them again."

An A-Qaeda affiliate known as AQIM has claimed responsibility for the attack on the 147-room Hotel Splendid, the Cappuccino Cafe and another nearby hotel, Hotel Yibi. Fatalities have reached at least 28.

According to news reports, Burkina Faso troops, French special security forces and U.s. military personnel raided the upscale hotel Saturday morning, killing four extremists and freeing 126 hostages. One U.S. military member was embedded with French forces at the scene, and the United States worked to help provide French with surveillance and reconnaissance help, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for Special Operations Command Africa confirmed that American forces assisted in recovery operations. Maj. Nathan Broshear said U.S. military personnel worked alongside Burkina Faso and French militaries, focusing on the rescue of citizens, not engaging the assailants.

Among the dead at the two hotels and the cafe were these foreigners: six Canadians, two French, two Swiss and one Dutch citizen. Ten were killed at the cafe. An estimated 50 civilians have been injured.

Authorities have said that victims represent 18 nationalities. The Hotel Splendid and Cafe Cappuccino are popular with Westerners, United Nations staff and French soldiers based in Burkina Faso.

Four attackers, described as Arab and black Africans, were killed.

The attacks mark a major escalation in terror activity in Burkina Faso. This is the first time Islamist militants have carried out an assault in the Burkina Faso capital city. The country is about 60 percent Muslim. In April 2015, a Romanian nation was kidnapped in an attack that was the first of its kind in Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso has for years been mostly spared from the violence of Islamist extremist groups who have abducted foreigners for ransom in Mali and Niger. According to news reports, the attacks in Ouagadougou and a similar siege in an upscale hotel in Bamako, Mali in November 2015, follow growing tension in Burkina Faso since a coup attempt by presidential guards in September.

Newly-installed President Rach Marc Christian Kabore broke with the past Wednesday by filling his cabinet with ministers who had not served with the previous administration of Blaise Compaore, who was president for 27 years. Compaore went into exile in Ivory Coast after being driven from power in an uprising in 2014.

Cynthia Ohayon, a West Africa analyst at International Crisis Group, said there has been a deterioration in Burkina Faso's security situation, and that there have been warning signs of trouble. She said, " ... and if there is an element of surprise, it is that this (the hotels and cafe attacks) did not come earlier."

Ohayon said it is not coincidental that such incidents have happened only since Compaore was ousted. She explained that the long-time leader's ouster likely ended "a convenient relationship" between Burkina Faso and militants that had "protected" the country. She said that Compaore had high connections with rebel and Islamist groups.

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