Woman kidnapped by pirates 'is dead'
Source: Agencies |
October 20, 2011, Thursday
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A CANCER-STRICKEN and quadriplegic French woman who was kidnapped from an island resort in northern Kenya and taken to Somalia appears to have died, French officials said yesterday.
Unspecified "contacts" told French officials that Marie Dedieu, 66, had died but the date and circumstances of her death were not clear, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
Kenyan officials said Somali pirates kidnapped Dedieu in a waterborne operation on October 1. Kenyan police and the navy gave chase but did not catch the kidnappers.
Kenyan military forces, meanwhile, have moved into southern Somalia, chasing militants linked to al-Shabab, which the Nairobi government has accused of being involved in a rash of kidnappings in Kenya, including Dedieu's.
French officials denounced the abduction of Dedieu, and suggested a lack of medical care on the part of the kidnappers was to blame for her death.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "Madame Dedieu's state of health, the uncertainty about the conditions of her detention, the fact that the kidnappers probably refused to give her the medication we sent her, lead us to fear that this tragic fate is sadly the most likely one."
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "Madame Dedieu was a gravely ill woman afflicted with cancer and quadriplegic. Seizing a woman in this state is an act of barbarity."
Abdullah Fadhil, property manager at Dedieu's residence in Lamu, said she was a beloved member of the community. "We are so, so sad," he said. "We have lost a mother of this village."
Unspecified "contacts" told French officials that Marie Dedieu, 66, had died but the date and circumstances of her death were not clear, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
Kenyan officials said Somali pirates kidnapped Dedieu in a waterborne operation on October 1. Kenyan police and the navy gave chase but did not catch the kidnappers.
Kenyan military forces, meanwhile, have moved into southern Somalia, chasing militants linked to al-Shabab, which the Nairobi government has accused of being involved in a rash of kidnappings in Kenya, including Dedieu's.
French officials denounced the abduction of Dedieu, and suggested a lack of medical care on the part of the kidnappers was to blame for her death.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "Madame Dedieu's state of health, the uncertainty about the conditions of her detention, the fact that the kidnappers probably refused to give her the medication we sent her, lead us to fear that this tragic fate is sadly the most likely one."
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "Madame Dedieu was a gravely ill woman afflicted with cancer and quadriplegic. Seizing a woman in this state is an act of barbarity."
Abdullah Fadhil, property manager at Dedieu's residence in Lamu, said she was a beloved member of the community. "We are so, so sad," he said. "We have lost a mother of this village."
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