Journalist’s wife to visit Abidjan for 8th anniversary of disappearance

  Osange Silou-Kieffer, the wife of the missing Franco-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer, and Reporters Without Borders will begin a five-day visit to the Ivorian business capital of Abidjan tomorrow in order to mark the eighth anniversary of Kieffer’s disappearance in Abidjan on 16 April 2004. It will be Silou-Kieffer’s first visit to Côte d'Ivoire since 2004. «I am going to Abidjan to talk to Côte d'Ivoire’s new political and judicial authorities» Silou-Kieffer said. «Where do we stand now? Has the quest for the truth made any progress? I also want to express my solidarity with the Ivorian people, who have suffered a great deal in the upheavals of the past few years.» She is travelling with Reporters Without Borders, a registered civil party in the investigation that the French judicial authorities launched into Kieffer’s disappearance in response to the complaint that the family filed in France in 2004. «We have been fighting alongside the family for the past eight years in an attempt to prevent Kieffer’s abduction and disappearance from being forgotten and going unpunished, so we had to accompany Osange on this trip,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Her presence in Abidjan will send a strong signal that we are not giving up, that our hope of one day discovering the truth is as firm as ever.» Two events are planned for 16 April: - At 1 p.m. in Abidjan, Silou-Kieffer will visit the place where her husband was kidnapped, the Prima Supermarket carpark in the city’s Marcory Zone 4 neighbourhood. She invites journalists and others who follow the case to join her during this moment of thought for Kieffer and to pay tribute to his commitment to his work. Côte d'Ivoire’s Truth for Guy-André Kieffer Collective will be there. - At 6:30 p.m. in Paris, Kieffer’s daughter Canelle Kieffer will host a peaceful and festive gathering in front of the Saint-Michel Fountain in the 5th arrondissement. During their visit to Côte d'Ivoire (from 14 April onwards), Osange Silou-Kieffer will be reachable on +225 0981-0314 and Ambroise Pierre, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa Desk, will be reachable on +225 0749-5254. More information about Guy-André Kieffer