The time for tributes. A little less than a week after the tragedy which claimed the lives of six French aid workers and two Nigeriens, Prime Minister Jean Castex will preside over a ceremony in memory of the victims on Friday at 4 p.m. A ceremony that will take place in the hall of honor at Orly airport in the presence of families, while the bodies of French victims are repatriated to the territory by military plane from the Nigerian capital, Niamey.
Family members of the victims present
A moment of contemplation that the Prime Minister wished to lead personally, with the agreement of Emmanuel Macron, when usually this responsibility falls to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In addition to the families of the victims (Charline F, Stella G, Nadifa L, Myriam D, Léo R, and Antonin G.), members of the NGO Acted, including humanitarian workers, will be present.
The Prime Minister will be accompanied by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible in particular for French people living abroad, and Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti. The press will not be present, but some sequences of the event will be broadcast on television, with the agreement of the families.
>> Find the morning show of the day in replay and podcast here
The Prime Minister should also address the French military commitment on the spot
It is first of all the relatives of the victims and the representatives of the NGO who will speak to open the ceremony. Jean Castex will then give a speech to pay tribute to the commitment of these young people but also, specifies Matignon, to talk about the context which led to this type of barbaric act. The Prime Minister will also come back to France's military commitment on the spot, before a minute of silence is observed.