At Natitingou in northern Benin, visitors mingled with locals to pay their condolences to the family of Fiacre Gbedji, a tour guide murdered by jihadists when they kidnapped two French tourists in the Pendjari National Park.

Gbedji's widow sat on a mat, legs stretched out and a lost look on her face, with a crucifix around her neck. Her mother-in-law sat beside her, eyes red from weeping.

The women were too upset to speak. The late guide's brother, Alexandre Gbedji, said the whole family was still taking in the events of May 1, when Islamic extremists from Burkina Faso seized Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas after brutally killing their expert companion.

"Nobody can get over it," he told AFP. "It's a nightmare for the whole family."

Gbedji's remains were found three days after the attack, badly shredded by vultures. "We hurt all the more because he has no right to a sepulchre. Fiacre could not even be buried decently," his brother said.

Elite French troops freed the abducted tourists and two other captives in an overnight raid launched in Burkina Faso last Thursday, which claimed the lives of two commandos.

- 'One of the best' -

Gbedji was among some 30 guides accredited to lead tourists around the wildlife reserve, 4,800 square kilometres (1,850 square miles) of savannah, woodland and wetlands home to antelope, hippos and lions.

"He was one of the best," the park's director James Terjanian declared. "His work was faultless. This is an enormous loss to the country."

The attack came while Gbedji was taking his French companions along the Pendjari river, which is mostly dried up at this time of year.

"There are ponds where animals come to drink," one of his colleagues said.

Part of the river separates Benin, a country hitherto spared terrorist attacks and unscarred by conflict, from Burkina Faso, a country also popular with European tourists but hard hit in recent years by jihadists.

"The threat means nothing so long as you don't see it," the fellow guide remarked.

- 'Giving of himself' -

Gbedji, who was aged about 30, became "passionately" drawn to the tourist business when he finished high school, according to a close friend who asked not to be named.

He began as a driver, then became a qualified guide in the Natitingou and Pendjari region, more than 650 kilometres (400 miles) from the economic capital, Cotonou.

"His prime character trait was giving of himself for other people," the friend added, describing the slain man as somebody "very humble, ever helpful and ever available."

Belgian daily La Libre Belgique wrote that "many young Belgians and their teachers knew him" through a project called Move With Africa, supported by the paper.

Gbedji revealed his "culture and his country" to young people being taught about citizenship, the paper said.

The guide lived in a modest middle-class home in the large town of Nati, a crossroads in territory known for its tourist appeal.

- 'Compassionate messages' -

The father of six also helped out at an orphanage.

Several of his former clients posted pictures and videos on social media, and a collection is being taken up to help his family.

"It's not only his family and colleagues who are mourning," said Adamou Akpana, president of the union of guides for the Pendjari region. "All the tourists who knew him are sending compassionate messages."

Pique and Lassimouillas, who were snatched away near the border with Burkina Faso, were put in touch with Gbedji at the last hotel they stayed in.

"I saw him for the last time the night before he left with the two tourists," Akpana said.

Grief, questions as France remembers troops slain in hostage raid
Paris (AFP) May 14, 2019 - A grieving France paid its respects Tuesday to two commandos killed during a raid to rescue four hostages in the Sahel region of Africa last week, under the shadow of a row over risks taken by two of those freed.

French special forces Cedric de Pierrepont, 33, and Alain Bertoncello, 28, who died in the operation in Burkina Faso, were honoured with a ceremony at the Invalides military complex in Paris led by President Emmanuel Macron.

Crowds joined soldiers, firefighters and veterans in lining the bridge leading up to the imposing 17th-century landmark as the motorcade carrying their coffins made its solemn procession through a sun-lit Paris.

"France is a country that does not abandon its children, no matter the circumstances," a visibly emotional Macron said in his speech during a 45-minute ceremony attended by tearful family members and masked fellow special forces.

"Those who attack French citizens should know that our country will never give way and that they will always encounter our army, our elite troops and our allies," he added.

Meanwhile, Benin opened a probe into the kidnappings, prosecutors said.

- 'Warning to tourists' -

The raid last week freed French hostages Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, who were seized on May 1 while on a safari trip in a nature park in Benin near the border with Burkina Faso.

A US citizen and South Korean tourist -- both women whose presence was a total surprise to the French forces -- were also sprung from captivity in the overnight Thursday operation.

The kidnapping has shone a spotlight on rising instability in the vast Sahel region lying south of the Sahara desert, where Islamist groups aligned to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group (IS) have been gathering in strength.

Along with an outpouring of grief in France over the sacrifice of the two soldiers, there has been criticism of the French tourists who were visiting an area subject to a travel warning by the foreign ministry.

Leading French daily Le Figaro said in an editorial Monday that the freeing of the tourists had "left a bitter taste".

"This tragic event should serve as a warning to our tourists. Our forces are in Africa for a hard and long war and not to pay the price of carelessness," it wrote.

On Saturday, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reprimanded the freed men, aged 51 and 46, for taking "significant risks" by visiting an area that was considered a "red" no-go zone under travel advice issued by his ministry.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen criticised Macron meanwhile for meeting the tourists at the plane that brought them back.

"The president shouldn't have gone to greet them almost as if they were heroes," Le Pen told the BFM news channel in a weekend interview.

- 'Fulfilled their destiny' -

French officials have argued that the raid came in a key window of opportunity as the hostage-takers were planning to transfer their victims to Islamist groups in Mali aligned to either Al-Qaeda or IS.

Lassimouillas admitted that he and Picque should have taken into account the foreign ministry advisories, in a statement read out as the men arrived back in France.

But Macron insisted that the men's lives had not been sacrificed.

"A life that is halted, even in full youth, is not a life that is lost," he said. "Someone who dies in combat, fulfilling their duty, has not just fulfilled their duty but their destiny."

He decorated both men posthumously as members of the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest honour.

France's special forces units were in attendance for their fallen brothers in arms on Tuesday, prompting warnings to broadcasters not to show any faces that could jeopardise their safety.

The hostages were snatched, and their local guide killed, by an armed group while visiting the Pendjari National Park in Benin which borders Burkina Faso.

The deaths were a reminder of the risks encountered in the region by French forces, who have been deployed in the Sahel since 2013 when France intervened to drive back jihadist groups who had taken control of northern Mali.

A total of 26 French soldiers have died in the deployment including de Pierrepont and Bertoncello.

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French special forces free 4 hostages in Burkina Faso
Paris (AFP) May 10, 2019
French special forces have freed two French hostages, an American and a South Korean in northern Burkina Faso in an overnight raid in which two soldiers died, authorities announced Friday. The operation was launched to free two French tourists who had disappeared while on holiday in the remote Pendjari National Park in neighbouring Benin on May 1. But during the raid, the French troops were surprised to discover two women also in captivity, with top officials saying they had been held for 28 day ... read more