“Eight years without an answer is long enough,” missing journalist’s wife says

Osange Silou-Kieffer today marked the eighth anniversary of the abduction and disappearance of her husband, Franco-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer, by leading a demonstration at 1 p.m. in the Prima shopping centre carpark in Abidjan, the time and place where he was seen for the last time. Wearing symbolic press cards based on one of Kieffer’s old press cards around their necks, around 40 journalists took part in the demonstration, which was covered by the national and international media. “I am very moved to be here today at the very place where my husband disappeared, and to have so many people here to support me,” Silou-Kieffer said. “I have come here to pay homage to him but also and above all to say that we will not give up. We are determined to know what happened, to know the truth.” She added: “I would like the French and Canadian embassies in Côte d’Ivoire to resume joint monitoring of developments in the case, as they did in the immediate aftermath of his abduction in 2004.” Reporters Without Borders, which has been helping the family since 2004 and which is a registered civil party in the French judicial investigation into Kieffer’s disappearance, said: “The investigation is not progressing quickly enough and the changes since last year have not met our expectations.” The media freedom organization added: “We call on the Ivorian authorities to create a special commission of enquiry in Côte d'Ivoire, one with adequate resources, so that the French investigating judge, Patrick Ramaël, is not the only one trying to advance this case.” Silou-Kieffer and Reporters Without Borders are due to be received tomorrow by President Alassane Ouattara and Prime Minister Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio, who is also minister of justice. Kieffer’s daughter, Canelle Kieffer, will host a parallel demonstration in front of the Saint-Michel Fountain in the Latin Quarter of Paris at 6:30 p.m. today. The participants will wear the same symbolic press cards as in Abidjan.