Blais and Tacchetto were heading to Ouagadougou from Bobo-Diulasso for a four- or five-day stay, noting that a Canadian travel warning had reported a risk of banditry and kidnapping in the area. PHOTO: AFP
OTTAWA: A Canadian woman who traveled to Burkina Faso with an Italian friend as part of a humanitarian aid program has been reported missing, the foreign ministry said Saturday.
Edith Blais, 34, has not been heard from since December 15, according to Canadian media.
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"Canadian consular agents in Burkina Faso are in contact with the local authorities to gather information. Consular services have been provided to members of the family in Canada," a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
Local media reports said Blais traveled to the West African country via Europe with a friend, Lucas Tacchetto, a 30-year-old from Venice. The Canadian foreign ministry had no comment on Tacchetto's status.
The pair were supposed to travel by car to Togo for a humanitarian aid project with Zion'Gaia, an environmentally oriented group that engages in reforestation projects, according to its website.
"They never have crossed the border or applied for a visa from Burkina Faso to Togo or Ghana," read a statement posted on a Facebook group created by the woman's family.
It said Blais and Tacchetto were heading to Ouagadougou from Bobo-Diulasso for a four- or five-day stay, noting that a Canadian travel warning had reported a risk of banditry and kidnapping in the area.
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Ethnic violence left 48 dead in Burkina Faso this week, and a state of emergency was decreed in several provinces in the wake of recurrent militant attacks.
The Canadian foreign ministry cautioned its nationals to avoid non-essential travel in Burkina Faso because of the "terrorist threat."
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