UN Envoy captured in Niger

[Frenchie]

http://news.sympatico.msn.ca/Canada/...=abc&date=True

Missing Canadian diplomats mystery

16/12/2008 7:29:00 PM
Alexander Panetta, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - A prominent Canadian diplomat missing in Africa may have been abducted as part of a complex conflict involving the government of Niger, rebel groups and international mining companies.

Robert Fowler was a senior adviser to several prime ministers, starting with Pierre Trudeau, and played a leading role in thwarting the trade of so-called blood diamonds in the 1990s.

Fowler, 64, was on assignment as the United Nations' special envoy to Niger when he and fellow Canadian diplomat Louis Guay disappeared Sunday.

Rebels seeking to overthrow the country's democratic government at first claimed, and then denied, responsibility for kidnapping the men.

The claim was published and recanted by a group that says uranium mining companies from Canada and other countries are destroying their land.

Rebels say local people have not received a fair share of the royalties from uranium, which accounts for more than two-thirds of Niger's exports.

A handful of Canadian companies own 40 per cent of Niger's mining permits, according to statistics from the Foreign Affairs Department.

The abduction claim and retraction were published on the website for a splinter faction that broke from the main rebel group, the Niger Movement for Justice.

A man described as the splinter group's No. 2 figure declared on its website Monday that Fowler was among four people seized in a commando operation.

He said that the Front des Forces de Redressement had abducted the diplomat to send a "strong signal" about Canada's support for the government. It said Fowler was doing well and would soon be transferred in a safe location.

The resistance group's online statement was then contradicted on the same website Tuesday in an entry published under the name of its leader, Mohamed Awtchiki Kriska.

"No hostage-taking should be attributed to our movement which is fighting against these practices from another era," the entry said.

"Even if it's true that Canada is an actor in this conflict . . . civilians, diplomats, and other actors under the auspices of the United Nations, are not our targets."

The entry said it hoped Fowler would be rapidly returned to Canadian consular authorities or to the UN.

A spokesman for the UN said the organization was trying to gather solid information about the diplomats' whereabouts, and was trying to sort out the mixed signals coming from the group.

"There are some conflicting messages coming out from that group so we're trying to evaluate those messages," UN spokesman Fahan Haq said.

A vehicle carrying Fowler was found abandoned - with its lights on - about 50 kilometres northeast of Niamey, Niger's capital, on Sunday night.

Fowler worked with Trudeau on the former prime minister's international peace mission before he left office in 1984.

He then rose to become the most senior civilian official in the Defence Department under Brian Mulroney, and served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 1995 to 2000.

Fowler also played a role in shaping African history during the 1990s, said Peter Harder, a longtime friend and colleague.

Harder said Fowler helped spearhead the campaign to get Canada a temporary membership on the UN Security and used that spot to wage a campaign against blood diamonds.

Fowler fought off resistant UN members, and the international ban on Angolan diamonds helped end that country's civil war, said Harder.

"Bob was an aggressive advocate. He stood his ground firmly . . . and I think he was a huge contributor to - and champion of - doing the right thing in Africa."

Fowler and Guay were being driven in a UN Development Program vehicle with "UNDP" lettering.

They had been travelling on UN business around Niamey, a former French colonial outpost that is now a river port and trading centre along the Niger River.

The resistance group said the abduction targeted diplomats who support the Niger government led by President Mamadou Tandja, whom it accused of "ethnicide."

Canada has been particularly active in the impoverished country's mining sector, which comprises mainly uranium but also gold deposits.

The rebels say people in Niger - especially ethnic Tuareg nomads in the north - are being short-changed financially while their traditional land is being depleted.

The rebel website said the hostages were taken to send a message to Canada, which it claimed was helping to arm the Niger government against the indigenous people. It was unclear whether the rebels were referring to arms sales or to more generic financial support.

But the Canadian government said Tuesday that it had pored through its list of permits granted for weapons exports and found none destined for Niger.

"We've looked through our records in the last 10 years," said Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Monette. "There have been no arms exports to Niger."
Copyright The Canadian Press