Seychelles in solidarity with the US following school shooting |17 December 2012

In a letter sent in the aftermath of the devastating shooting that occurred in United States on Friday December 15, President Michel expressed the support of the Seychellois people and government during their time of national mourning:

"This attack is abhorrent to us all, and we join the American people to express our solidarity at this moment of unimaginable grief.

The values of family, and the rights of all children to have an upbringing free of violence, are ones which know no frontiers, and we join together to pray for all the victims and their families."

President Michel concluded by reiterating the Seychellois nation’s deepest sympathies to the families of all those affected by the tragedy.

Twenty children aged six and seven years old and seven adults, including the gunman's mother died before Adam Lanza, 20, turned a gun on himself at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, USA, on Friday.

US President Barack Obama was to attend a memorial service in Newtown yesterday and speak at an interfaith vigil for families of the victims.