“They died for humanity and we will never forget them”: a tribute was paid Monday in Paris to the six French humanitarian workers from the NGOs Acted and Impact who were murdered a year ago in Niger with their Nigerien guide and driver.

"We will never know the suffering of families but know that the weight of responsibility, the guilt does not leave us", testified the co-founder of Acted, Frédéric Roussel, confident that August 9, 2020 "will remain the most terrible day of his life ".

"We will continue our work, it will be our revenge"

On that day, armed men riding motorcycles executed two men and four women aged 25 to 31 who worked for Acted and Impact, along with their Nigerien guide and driver, as they visited the Kouré giraffe reserve. , 60 km from the capital Niamey where they were based.

Their portraits, smiling, were arranged on a table covered with African fabrics with candles and small pots of sand from Niger.

"In the name of Acted, I beg your pardon", continued Frédéric Roussel, addressing the families, reunited with NGO employees under the trees of the Champ de Mars.

"Sorry for not being able to protect your children, sorry for the madness, the monstrosity of the people who did this and sorry for the tears of my 10,000 employees who, all over the world, are doing their best to help others" , he articulated, his voice choked with emotion.

"We will continue our work, it will be our revenge," he concluded.

Ceremonies organized in a hundred countries

Videos of the ceremonies organized in a hundred countries where the two NGOs are present were then shown on a screen.

In Niamey, Acted employees laid the foundation stones for a school dedicated to victims "who will remain with us forever," said a Nigerien employee.

"They lived the most cruel and the most inhuman when they had chosen to make the world a better place", testified on condition of anonymity a relative of a victim.

The question "which concerns me the most is why?"

Why you ?

Why kill humanitarians who have come to defend the universal values ​​of peace and humanity?

It doesn't make sense, ”said another.

"France does not forget them"

"France does not forget them", assured Prime Minister Jean Castex in a press release, indicating that "judicial investigations are continuing so that this heinous crime does not go unpunished and that their perpetrators are brought to justice".

In Paris, three anti-terrorism investigating judges are investigating this attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, in collaboration with the Nigerien judicial authorities.

Justice

Humanitarians killed in Niger: The anti-terrorism prosecution in charge of the investigation

World

Humanitarians killed in Niger: A suspect has been arrested, announces the Nigerien Ministry of the Interior

  • Terrorist attack

  • Niger

  • World