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Marie Dedieu, a 66-year-old French woman who was abducted from her beachfront house on Manda Island in the Lamu archipelago on Oct. 1.
By Michael Mainville
PARIS — A disabled French woman who was snatched from her beachfront home at a Kenyan resort island and taken to neighbouring Somalia has died in the hands of her captors, France said on Wednesday.
The foreign ministry said the circumstances of 66-year-old Marie Dedieu’s death were not known, but her failing health had probably been a factor.
“This was an act of unqualified barbarism, violence and brutality,” Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told reporters.
“We condemn this in the strongest possible terms. We did everything possible to try to obtain her release, we tried to send medication by numerous different channels and apparently these savages could not care less.”
The announcement of her death came as Kenyan jets pounded the positions in Somalia of al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab militants, who Nairobi blames for a spate of abductions of foreigners.
Kenyan forces launched an unprecedented incursion, which it says has already killed dozens of Al-Shabaab fighters, into Somalia this week with the blessing of the Western-backed government in Mogadishu.
“The contacts through which the French government was seeking to obtain the release of Marie Dedieu, held in Somalia since October 1, have announced her death,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Mrs Dedieu’s state of health, uncertainty over the conditions of her detention and the fact that the kidnappers probably refused to give her the medication that we sent her lead us to believe that this tragic outcome is unfortunately the most likely,” the ministry said.
A gang of 10 armed men seized Dedieu from Manda Island in Kenya’s Lamu archipelago earlier this month and fled by sea to Somalia, fighting off an attempt by Kenya’s navy to stop them.
There had been serious concern over the health of Dedieu, who was wheelchair-bound after an accident several years ago, recovering from cancer and required medication every few hours.
The foreign ministry said it had informed Dedieu’s family of her death and was demanding the unconditional return of her remains.
“The French government expresses its profound shock, great sadness and solidarity with the family and loved ones of Marie Dedieu,” it said.
“It also expresses its indignation at the cruelty and complete absence of humanity shown by our compatriot’s abductors, whom we want to see identified and brought to justice.”
Kenyan officials said they suspected Somali Islamist Shebab insurgents had carried out the abduction, but the militants denied the charge.
Dedieu had lived for 15 years in the Lamu archipelago, off Kenya’s northern coast, in a traditional Swahili-style house with a thatched roof a few metres from the sea.
She was a well-loved local figure and residents were in shock at the news of her death.
“Oh my God, don’t tell me,” Lamu Deputy Mayor Azhar Ali said on hearing the news. “May God keep her soul and protect her.”
“I am so very, very sad about that,” said Mary Jo Van Aardt, who runs a hotel in the area. “One just feels so helpless.”
Dedieu’s kidnapping was the second in the area in less than a month and dealt a blow to Kenya’s tourist trade after European governments warned travellers to avoid the Kenyan coastline near Somalia.
A British tourist, Judith Tebbutt, was seized to the north of Lamu and taken to Somalia on September 11 by an armed gang who killed her husband. She is believed to have been sold to pirates now holding her in central Somalia.
A third incident, the kidnapping of two Spanish aid workers at the Dadaab refugee camp, took place last Thursday and apparently prompted the Kenyan incursion into Somalia.
Kenyan ground forces were operating at least 100 kilometres inside Somalia on Wednesday and preparing to push forward to seize the Al-Shabaab-controlled city of Afmadow.
It is unclear how long Kenyan troops plan to stay in Somalia but Nairobi has been under growing pressure to take action to restore confidence that it could safely host tourists and one of the world’s largest aid communities.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/19/kidnapped-french-woman-dies-in-somalia/
http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
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