Québécoise disparue au Burkina Faso : « On ne dort pratiquement pas », dit sa mère
Woman from Québec missing in Burkina Fasso: "We hardly sleep," her mother says.
Without news of her since December 15, the family of Edith Blais, travelling in Africa, is worried about her safety.
After travelling to Mali and Burkina Faso, the 34-year-old Sherbrooke native was to participate in a reforestation project in Togo with her travelling companion, a 30-year-old Italian friend. They were supposed to join Zion'Gaïa between December 15 and 20, but the director of the organization did not hear from them either.
Jocelyne Bergeron, Edith Blais' mother, last spoke to her daughter on December 13. She was at that time in Bamako, the capital of Mali, waiting for her visa to travel to Burkina Faso.
On December 15, Edith Blais posted photos of her trip on Facebook, and her boyfriend's parents, Lucas, spoke to their son that day. The two travellers were then in Burkina Faso.
In addition, according to information received from people there, but not confirmed, Edith Blais was seen on December 21 in Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city in Burkina Faso, apparently with a nun.
The travelling duo had to leave Bobo-Dioulasso for the capital, Ouagadougou, and stay there for a few days. They "would never have crossed the border or applied for a visa from Burkina Faso to Togo," according to the Facebook page created by Edith Blais' relatives to help find her.
Edith Blais' mother and sister are currently in contact with many people in Burkina Faso who are trying to find information about the two missing persons.
Many Quebeckers who know the Sherbrooke woman have asked for help from people they know who are in this African country. Lucas Tacchetto's Italian friends did the same.
"We have a lot of people helping us, it's incredible. People are sending us messages. Because we have put a page of wanted notices on it, and people are writing to us from there saying they are looking on our behalf," said Jocelyne Bergeron, in an interview with RDI Matin Matin week-end.
"It's going so fast right now. In the last 24 hours, we've hardly slept at all. We are in contact with a lot of people who offer us help. We have to answer, we have to be there, and I guess in a day or two we should have more information about what's going on," she continued.
Patrick Gagnon, a Canadian entrepreneur who has lived in Burkina Faso for seven years and who read the news of his disappearance in the newspaper, has decided to put his contacts at the service of the family.
In addition to informing "some friends in police stations, among other things, some political connections", Mr. Gagnon travelled across the border of Ghana and Togo to check if the two travellers had passed through there. The answer is no.
"They don't seem to have crossed the border, at least not legally, because they are not listed there," he said in an interview with Radio-Canada.
Patrick Gagnon also says he is "organizing communications in the media, so that it can be published in all the media in Burkina Faso" and trying to distribute as much as possible the photo of Edith Blais.
Mr. Gagnon promises a reward for "relevant information that would make it possible to find them".
"Here, if we want things to move forward, there is always a financial aspect to it. So me and my wife decided to contribute a little. We will be able to contribute up to 1 million CFA francs, which may represent $2,500."
"The Italian authorities, who issued the alert, are also involved in intensive searches, which is not the case in Ottawa," says Jocelyne Bergeron.
"They called me on December 20 to tell me that the Italians had issued an alert. But they have no news. It's completely flat, it doesn't move. I really didn't get any information from them. Everything we find, we find by ourselves or by the people who help us, and especially by the Italians," she notes.
Jocelyne Bergeron says she calls World Affairs Canada every two days to ask them where they stand in their investigation, and that she is the one who suggests the steps they should take.
"I ask them if they did this, if they did that, they tell me it would be a good idea... I feel completely neglected by the department," she says.
A spokesperson for World Affairs Canada confirmed Edith Blais' disappearance on Saturday morning, saying that Ottawa was in contact with African authorities to gather more information and that "consular assistance" was being provided to her family.
Reacting to her Twiter account, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development, said that teams are working in the field to collect the information "in close collaboration with the Burkina Faso authorities".
On its website, the Canadian Ministry advises tourists to avoid non-essential travel to this part of Africa, particularly "because of the risk of banditry and kidnapping".
"Illegal roadblocks and incidents of road piracy have been reported," it says. "Armed bandits do not hesitate to shoot to stop vehicles in order to rob their occupants."
The warning also states that the border areas with Niger, Togo, Benin and Mali are at risk from terrorist attacks.
These government observations are confirmed by contractor Patrick Gagnon.
"The atmosphere has become more tense in the last two years. There is a lot of terrorism, especially outside the big cities. It's a little dangerous to walk around the country," he says.
BBM
