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IVORY COAST- ANDRE-GUY KIEFFER
The case of Andre-Guy Kieffer, a journalist who disappeared in the Ivory Coast in April, was one of those selected as a focus case during International PEN's Day of the Imprisoned Writer.
Since then, the situation in the Ivory Coast has escalated into a emergency. PEN members have suspended appeals until stability has returned. However, Kieffer remains disappeared and PEN will continue to call for information on his plight.
The following is a background to his case.
Guy-André Kieffer, writer and independent reporter who holds joint French and Canadian nationality, disappeared on 16 April 2004. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Kieffer was last seen at approximately 1pm on 16 April 2004 at a shopping centre in Abidjan and has made no contact with anyone since that time. Following his disappearance his mobile phone was switched off. His car also disappeared.
The journalist and writer, who has lived with his family in the Ivory Coast for several years, is the Abidjan correspondent for the French publication La Lettre du Continent and contributes occasionally to several magazines. He also reportedly writes for the Ivoirian press under a pseudonym and is collaborating on a book with Louis-André Dacoury-Tabley, who is the foreign affairs co-ordinator for the Mouvement patriotique de Côte d’Ivoire (Patriotic Movement of the Côte d’Ivoire – MPCI).
In addition to his work as a journalist and writer, Kieffer has also worked as a cocoa and coffee trade expert for a firm of consultants called Commodities Corporate Consulting. He has conducted numerous investigations into the coffee and cocoa sectors, some of which have exposed corruption.
Following Kieffer’s disappearance, rumours circulated in the Ivory Coast that the body of a white man has been found in a suburb of Abidjan. Michel Legré, the brother-in-law of President Gbagbo’s wife, Simone Gbagbo, was reportedly the last person to have seen Kieffer before his disappearance. In two interviews that he gave to a French examining magistrate Patrick Ramael, he named at least eight people whom he said were involved in the kidnapping of Kieffer.
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HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP: |
Please write a polite letter calling upon the Ivoirian authorities
to do all in their power to discover the whereabouts of Andre-Guy Kieffer as soon as possible.
You may copy the suggested text for your
appeal or create your own.
Date
S.E. Laurent Gbagbo
Président de la République de la Côte D’Ivoire
Présidence de la République
01 BP 1354 Abidjan 01
Côte D’Ivoire
Fax: +225 21 14 25
Your Excellency,
I am deeply concerned about the disappearance of writer and journalist Guy-André
Kieffer. I understand that Guy-André Kieffer, of joint French
and Canadian nationality, disappeared in Abidjan on April 16, 2004 and that he has made no contact with anyone since that time.
I join writers world-wide in appealing to you to take
all necessary steps to ensure that the journalist and writer Guy-André Kieffer is found as a matter of the greatest urgency.
Sincerely,
Your name and signature
Cc: Ambassador of the Republic of the Ivory Coast to the United States
2424 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington, DC 20008
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