Seized Frenchwoman died in Somali captivity, France officials say

A 66-year-old Frenchwoman who was abducted by a band of Somali gunmen at the beginning of the month has died in captivity, French authorities announced Wednesday.

Marie Dedieu, who used a wheelchair, lived in a modest beachfront house on Manda Island in the Lamu resort archipelago on Kenya’s northern coast. She was seized by gunmen, thrown into a speedboat and taken to Somalia, a war-torn country that has become a base for piracy.

Kenyan authorities unsuccessfully pursued the kidnappers.

The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had been trying to secure Dedieu’s release through contacts in Somalia, who informed ministry officials that she had died. The date and circumstances of her death were unclear.

French representatives had managed to send medicine to Somali intermediaries in a bid to save her life, but could not be certain she got it.

“Mrs. Dedieu’s state of health, uncertainty over the conditions of her detention and the fact that the kidnappers probably refused to give her the medication that we sent her lead us to believe that this tragic outcome is unfortunately the most likely,” the ministry said.

Dedieu and her Kenyan partner, John Lepapa, 39, had come back from France days before she was kidnapped, leading authorities to suspect that the kidnappers may have been tipped off about her return.

Dedieu’s simple thatched house was a far cry from the nearby beach mansions of the rich. She called it “her little corner of paradise,” said Claudine Mulard, a Los Angeles-based friend who had known Dedieu since the 1970s.

Dedieu had recently been treated for cancer and was also taking medication for a heart ailment, “which is why we freaked out when we found out” about the kidnapping, said Mulard, who works for the French newspaper Le Monde.

A few weeks before Dedieu’s kidnapping, Somali gunmen targeted a British couple at the nearby Kenyan coastal resort of Kiwayu. David Tebbutt, 58, was shot dead when he tried to resist. His wife, Judith, 56, was whisked into Somalia.

Last week, two Spanish aid workers from Doctors Without Borders were kidnapped from the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, which has been swollen by refugees fleeing famine in southern Somalia.

Over the weekend, the Kenyan military invaded southern Somalia, capturing several key towns with forces of Somalia’s transitional federal government. Kenyan analysts said the operation would probably last several months.

According to analysts, the operation had been months in the planning, but the military decided to attack after the recent kidnappings.

The spate of kidnappings has hit Kenya’s $730-million tourist industry, which accounts for 10% of foreign earnings. Last year, Kenya played host to more than 1 million tourists, its highest number ever.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

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