Guy-André Kieffer
Encyclopedia
Guy-André Kieffer 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 an Abidjan
parking lot and has not been seen since.
of Rhône-Alpes
. He studied law
in Montreal
, 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
. 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.
Among these publications were his former newspaper La Tribune and also La Lettre du Continent
as well as several Ivorian newspapers.
. At the time he was working on a story about money laundering and illegal currency transfers allegedly involving the Ivorian government.
He had been drawn there by someone claiming to have leads on a government corruption story he was assembling. 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:
. 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.
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 Côte d'Ivoire
– was formally called for questioning by a French investigative judge, examining the April 2004 disappearance and presumed death Kieffer. 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. 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.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
of dual French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
nationality who worked in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
generally, and in Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
specifically. On April 16, 2004, he was kidnapped from an Abidjan
Abidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
parking lot and has not been seen since.
Career
Kieffer was born and raised in France; his family lives in the regionRégions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
of Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes
Rhône-Alpes is one of the 27 regions of France, located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the Rhône River and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris...
. He studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, and while there married a Canadian woman and obtained Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
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
La Tribune
La Tribune is a French financial newspaper that was founded in 1985. The paper is in tabloid format and has a circulation of around 78,000.- External links :**...
. Following this he worked in West Africa for a number of years, and wrote articles concerning Political corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
in African governments for several different publications.
Among these publications were his former newspaper La Tribune and also La Lettre du Continent
La Lettre du Continent
Edited every two weeks, La Lettre du Continent is the bench-mark publication for ruling circles and business leaders in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea countries.-External links:...
as well as several Ivorian newspapers.
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 AbidjanAbidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
. At the time he was working on a story about money laundering and illegal currency transfers allegedly involving the Ivorian government.
He had been drawn there by someone claiming to have leads on a government corruption story he was assembling. 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
Carol Off
Carol Off is a Canadian television and radio journalist, associated with CBC Television and CBC Radio. She has been a host of CBC Radio's As It Happens since 2006. Previously a documentary reporter for The National, Off also hosted the political debate series counterSpin on CBC Newsworld.She is the...
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."
Legal proceedings
In May 2004, civil proceedings concerning Kieffer's disappearance were launched in France by Kieffer's family and Reporters sans frontièresReporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
. 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
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. 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.
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
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
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
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
had never answered her request for a meeting.
Silou-Kieffer indicated she had asked Sarkozy to pressure Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Gbagbo
Laurent Koudou Gbagbo served as the fourth President of Côte d'Ivoire from 2000 until his arrest in April 2011. A historian by profession, he is also an amateur chemist and physicist....
to allow French judges to interrogate Ivorian suspects in the case.
In July 2008 Simone Gbagbo
Simone Gbagbo
Simone Ehivet Gbagbo is an Ivorian politician. She is the President of the Parliamentary Group of the Ivorian Popular Front and is a Vice-President of the FPI...
– First Lady of Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
– was formally called for questioning by a French investigative judge, examining the April 2004 disappearance and presumed death Kieffer. 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. 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.
External links
- Vérité pour Guy-André Kieffer (in French), site profiling Kieffer's case
- Kieffer’s case (in French), on Ménilmontant, mais oui madame.... This blog is written by a former French journalist who used to work with Kieffer in the years 80’ about French files on finance and political fields, with links with fiscal paradises. Blog only in French.