Central African Republic's Minister for Youth and Sport was kidnapped on Sunday by gunmen in the capital, Bangui, as he returned from church, an official said.
The seizure of Armel Ningatoloum Sayo follows the brief kidnapping earlier this week of a U.N. staff member and a French charity worker.
Tatiana Yangeko, Mr. Sayo's spokeswoman, said the Minister was driving his wife and his brother back from church when four unidentified gunmen in a taxi stopped their vehicle in Bangui's 8th arrondissement, in the north of the capital.
"They got out of the taxi, shot in the air and forced the Minister out of his car. They fled with him towards Boy Rabe," Ms. Yangeko said, referring to a neighbourhood that is a stronghold of the 'anti-Balaka' militia.
"We have told the Prime Minister," she added.
