Guy-André Kieffer

Guy-André Kieffer (born 25 May 1949 cite web
url=http://www.guyandrekieffer.org/biographie/
title=Biographie
publisher=Vérité pour Guy-André Kieffer
language=French
accessdate=2007-08-23] ) is a journalist of dual French-Canadian nationality who worked in West Africa generally, and in Côte d'Ivoire specifically. On April 16, 2004, he was kidnapped from a Abidjan parking lot and has not been seen since.

Career

Kieffer was born and raised in France; his family lives in the region of Rhône-Alpes. He studied law in Montreal, [cite news
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041117/PRESS17
title=Missing Canadian journalist honoured
date=November 17, 2004
accessdate=2007-08-23
last=Galloway
first=Gloria
publisher=The Globe and Mail] , and while there married a Canadian woman and obtained Canadian nationality; this marriage produced a son Sébastien-Cédric but later resulted in divorce. Kieffer is presently married to Osange Silou-Kieffer; they have a daughter Canelle.

From 1984 to 2002, Kieffer worked for the French financial newspaper "La Tribune". cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070823.wkieffer0823/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20070823.wkieffer0823
title=Sarkozy to help solve mystery of Canadian journalist missing in Ivory Coast
publisher=The Globe and Mail
date=August 23, 2007
accessdate-2007-08-23] Following this he worked in West Africa for a number of years, and wrote articles concerning Political corruption in African governments for several different publications. cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/08/23/france-journalist.html
title=French president takes up case of missing French-Canadian reporter
publisher=CBC News
date=August 23, 2007
accessdate-2007-08-23]

Among these publications were his former newspaper "La Tribune" and also "La Lettre du Continent" as well as several Ivorian newspapers. cite web|url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR310062005?open&of=ENG-CIV
title=Côte d'Ivoire : One year after his kidnapping, the fate of Guy-André Keiffer remains unknown
publisher=Amnesty International
date=15 April 2005
accessdate-2005-04-15]

Kidnapping and probable murder

At approximately 1 p.m. on April 16, 2004, Kieffer was kidnapped in the parking lot of a shopping center in Abidjan. At the time he was working on a story about money laundering and illegal currency transfers allegedly involving the Ivorian government. [cite news
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040605/NATS05-3
title=Ottawa urged to press case of missing journalist
publisher=The Globe and Mail
date=June 5, 2004
accessdate=2007-08-23]

He had been drawn there by someone claiming to have leads on a government corruption story he was assembling. Fact|date=August 2007 He has never been seen since, nor has a corpse been found. To this day his fate and the identity of his kidnappers remains a mystery.

In a 2006 interview regarding her book "Bitter Chocolate", CBC journalist Carol Off claimed that Kieffer's disappearance and probable murder was related to his investigation of the shady practices involving the Ivorian government and the cocoa industry. She had travelled to Côte d'Ivoire to research her book, and claimed that upon her arrival in the country Canadian embassy officials had given her a stern warning regarding Kieffer:

: SU: "Did you ever find yourself in danger like he [Kieffer] did?"

: Off: "I had a meeting with the Canadian Embassy and they said "you shouldn't be here asking questions about cocoa. It's very dangerous. But if you have to, at the very least, don't ask any questions about Guy-André Kieffer. Whatever you do, don't even mention his name."

: "Maybe that's good advice, but wherever I went they would raise his name and in ways that I realized weren't even veiled threats. I would be speaking with somebody in the business and they would say, 'You know what happened to the last person who asked these questions? I wonder where he is now?' They would just look at you. You got the message. I quickly realized how incredibly sinister and evil this story really was." [cite web
url=http://www.su.ualberta.ca/mainpage_content/news/20061106_CarolOff
date=November 11, 2006
accessdate=2007-08-25
title=Chocolate a product of child slavery, says CBC broadcaster
publisher=Revolutionary Speaker Series, University of Alberta Student's Union]

Legal proceedings

In May 2004, civil proceedings concerning Kieffer's disappearance were launched in France by Kieffer's family and Reporters sans frontières. The French magistrate charged with the case was sent to Abidjan and there interrogated Michel Legré, a brother-in-law of the wife of Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, who was allegedly the last person to see Kieffer alive. Legré provided a list of names of influential Ivorians who he alleged were involved in Kieffer's kidnapping.

This list of names was subsequently published in some Ivorian newspapers. In 2004, Legré was arrested in Abidjan by Ivorian police and charged with complicity in a kidnapping, illegal imprisonment and murder. He was also charged with defamation for naming the individuals on the list. Legré was provisionally released in 2005 and has since fled the country -- or is in an unknown location. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN16097oestmrgelle0 Où est Michel Legré ?] 16 septembre 2007, Jeune Afrique.]

Subsequently, the French magistrate was not granted access to all of the persons named by Legré. The magistrate questioned Legré himself on 21 October 2004, and on 13 December 2004 requested that Legré be temporarily moved to France, as he felt Legré was unable to speak freely in his Ivorian prison. However, the French government initially did not aid in this request, for which they were denounced by Keiffer's wife Osange Silou-Kieffer.

On August 23, 2007, French president Nicolas Sarkozy met with Kieffer's wife Osange Silou-Kieffer in Paris, and expressed his determination to aid in the case. Silou-Kieffer claimed that Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac had never answered her request for a meeting.

Silou-Kieffer indicated she had asked Sarkozy to pressure Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo to allow French judges to interrogate Ivorian suspects in the case.

In July 2008 Simone Gbagbo -- First Lady of First Lady of Côte d'Ivoire -- was formally called for questioning by a French investigative judge, examining the April 2004 disappearance and presumed death Kieffer. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_depeche.asp?art_cle=AFP01738affaiegujel0 Affaire Kieffer : Simone Gbagbo et un ministre convoqués chez le juge] . 8 July 2008 - AFP.] Speculation has surrounded a the Ivorian first family, as Michel Legré is the brother-in-law of Simone Gbagbo. French judicial officials have arrested and are investigating Jean-Tony Oulaï, a former member of the Ivorian Secret Services, whom they detained in Paris in 2006. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN05026jeantniomtn0 Jean-Tony Oulaï : plus qu’un témoin] . 5 février 2006 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER, POUR J.A.I.] Jean-Tony Oulaï's driver at the time Berté Seydou, as well as Mr Kieffer's brother, have alleged that Ms. Gbagbo and former Ivorian Minister of Planning and Development Paul-Antoine Bohoun Bouabré have knowledge of the events Mr Kieffer's death, and that Oulaï is responsible. [ [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN03096surlasruess0 Sur la piste des ravisseurs] - 3 septembre 2006 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER , Jeune Afrique. [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN24104lhommportti0 L'homme qui en savait trop] . 24 octobre 2004 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER , Jeune Afrique. [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN26015simonobgabg0 Simone Gbagbo] . 26 décembre 2004 - par CHEIKH YÉRIM SECK , Jeune Afrique. [http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN27074inconreffei0 Incontrôlable affaire Kieffer] . 27 juin 2004 - par CHRISTOPHE BOISBOUVIER, Jeune Afrique. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080708/wl_africa_afp/franceicoastcanadacrimeprobe_080708201344;_ylt=Aj56XGEsjY5T3iiCOnFwPoWXsdEF Ivory Coast first lady to be questioned over missing Canadian journalist] . Matthieu Rabechault, AFP, Jul 8 2008. ]

References

External links

* [http://www.guyandrekieffer.org/accueil/ Vérité pour Guy-André Kieffer] (in French), site profiling Kieffer's case