Kouré attack: the distress of the relatives of Garba Soulay, Nigerien victim

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3 min

This Friday is a day of funeral and tribute to the eight victims of the Kouré attack in Niger. The bodies of the six French people killed last Sunday took off overnight for France, where a ceremony is to be held this Friday, August 14, in Paris, in the presence of families and of French Prime Minister Jean Castex. In Niger, the two Nigeriens are buried in the privacy of families. RFI met the relatives of one of the missing.

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From our special correspondent in Niamey ,   Sidy Yansané

At the entrance to the village of Goudel, on the outskirts of Niamey, relatives of Garba Soulay are waiting in front of his home, sitting in the shade of a tree. With a low expression, they exchange only a few words and when they speak, it is to remember the good memories of Soulay, their younger brother and driver of the NGO Acted: "  He is a young brother whose death m touched a lot. He left for an area where no one really thought there would be an attack . What is done is already done. We surrender ourselves to the good Lord,  ”said one of them.

“  He's a kind young man, who has faith. Monday and Thursday he fasted. He loves parents too. Very believing and we pray the Good Lord to accept it in the eternal paradise  ”, adds another close.

Presentiment…

His eyes red with emotion, his older brother Ibrahima Maiga, retired gendarme, remembers a foreboding the day before Garba Soulay's assassination: “ The day before, around midnight, I could not sleep. It was at 3 o'clock that I fell asleep. I woke up around 10 a.m. I called him and I said: '' where are you? ''. He told me that he was in Kouré with some whites. We broke up like that. After the death, I took the photo as a souvenir  ”. A photo which he takes out of his pocket and which shows Soulay all smiles, seated with Westerners. An image that sums up the idea that everyone had of him.

On this Good Friday, his relatives will pray for him at the Great Mosque of Niamey before placing him in the ground in his native village. Garba Soulay leaves a wife, four children and a fifth unborn.

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