She was used to call it her "small paradise". Marie Dedieu, a 66-years-old French woman, settled in Lamu's archipelago, in Kenya, about 15 years ago. This is the very place where she was kidnapped on the 30th of September 2011 by an armed commando. Whereas the French Ministry of Foreign affairs announced her death this morning, the Red Helmets Foundation set on paying tribute to this committed woman's great courage.
After losing her mobility because of a car accident, Marie Dedieu was bound to move only in a wheelchair. Beside her handicap, she had to follow a medical treatment, taking drugs every day. This rose concern among her family and the French authorities as soon as the news of her abduction spread.
Today, it is with deep emotion that we learnt, via a Quai d'Orsay (the French Ministry for Foreign affairs) communiqué, that "the contacts with who the French government dealt, seeking for Marie Dedieu's release, announced her death without giving any detail about its date and circumstances".
Nicole Guedj, President of the Red Helmets Foundation, holds to present her deepest sympathy to Marie Dedieu's nearest and dearest. She also has a special thought for the remaining 7 French hostages, still kept captive all around the world: Denis Allex, officer in the General direction for external security, captive in Somalia since July 2009; Pierre Legrand, Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dol and Marc Furrer detained since September 2010 in the Sahel desert; and eventually, the three humanitarian workers, kidnapped in Yemen on the 28th of May 2011.
