# Bob Fowler Kidnapped in Niger (Dec 2008-Apr 2009)



## Edward Campbell (15 Dec 2008)

This report, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _Globe and Mail_, is distressing news:
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081215.wfowler1215/BNStory/International/home

 Former Canadian diplomat missing in Niger

CAMPBELL CLARK

Globe and Mail Update
December 15, 2008 at 3:11 PM EST

Prominent Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler has been reported missing in near Niamey in Niger, where the car he was travelling in was found last night, according to a UN spokesman.

Mr. Fowler, working as UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki-Moon's special envoy for Niger, was not been heard from since the car carrying Mr. Fowler, his Niger-based driver and a Canadian aide was found last night, about 45 kilometres northwest of the capital, Niamey, said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.

All three have not been heard from since, Mr. Haq said from UN headquarters in New York. The name of the other Canadian has not yet been released.

Mr. Fowler, a career foreign-service officer who has been Pierre Trudeau's foreign-policy adviser, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, and Jean Chrétien's special representative to Africa, is one of Canada's most-respected and best-known diplomats.

“We are relying on the government of Niger, and the authorities in Niger, to locate these individuals. We don't have any further information on their whereabouts at this stage,” Mr. Haq said.
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Mr. Fowler was Deputy Minister of National Defence back in the ’80 and into the early '90s. He was intensely disliked by many because he was _intrusive_, to put it mildly, and was considerably smarter than about 99.9% of the other people in the building. Scott Taylor did a sloppy, less than well researched and generally ignorant hatchet job on him/his office renovations in Tarnished Brass but Mr. Fowler, being a gentleman, did not respond.

Mr. Fowler also served as Canada’s Ambassador to the UN and is, currently, a senior fellow at Ottawa U, affiliated with the Centre for International Policy Studies, where he sometimes makes time to discuss world affairs, strategy and defence policy with tired old soldiers.

Niger is, pretty much, the worst bloody place on earth. It is lawless, corrupt, dirty and dangerous.


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## Old Sweat (15 Dec 2008)

Mr Fowler also played a very large part in the introduction of SOF into the CF circa 1992.


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## Redeye (15 Dec 2008)

Mr. Fowler and his wife hosted my Regiment at their Official Residence in Rome in September 2005 while we were touring Italy.  His hospitality knew no bounds and he definitely seemed to be a very, very sharp individual.  He took great pleasure in sharing the history of the house (which markedly differed from the story we got from our Italian guides, of course), and made a point of taking a bit of time to speak to all present personally during our time there.

I hope he is alright.


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## dapaterson (15 Dec 2008)

The difficulty some had with Mr Fowler were less with Mr Fowler per se than with the military leadership vacuum that permitted the DM to veer into certain areas that were somewhat outside his remit.  There is a very awkward division between DND and CF at the highest levels; Mr Fowler was in the middle of it during his tenure as DM.  That lead to some noses being out of joint, all ready to spill the beans about any real or imagined slights.  (Mike The Flag comes to mind as a dweller of glass houses, but I digress)

(Besides, "Smarter than 99.9% of the people in the building" is damning with faint praise (says one of the people in the building)).


I too hope for his safe return.


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## Old Sweat (15 Dec 2008)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> The difficulty some had with Mr Fowler were less with Mr Fowler per se than with the military leadership vacuum that permitted the DM to veer into certain areas that were somewhat outside his remit.  There is a very awkward division between DND and CF at the highest levels; Mr Fowler was in the middle of it during his tenure as DM.



Indeed. I saw him in action on a number of occasions at fairly close range. He had a natural tendency to fill any vacuum he encountered. At least once in my knowledge he forcefully sorted out some very senior CF officers after they had decided to act on some advice that was egregiously bad.

I hope he and his party soon emerge unscathed. He should be worth a pretty penny in ransom, so that may work in his favour.


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## Edward Campbell (15 Dec 2008)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> ... He had a natural tendency to *fill any vacuum he encountered*. At least once in my knowledge he forcefully sorted out some very senior CF officers after they had decided to act on some advice that was egregiously bad ...



He still does, at  a symposium, about a year ago he _sorted out_ a handful of professors and internationally known _*experts*_ by asking the key questions: "What is the aim - *our* (Canadian) aim?" "Do we - politicians, civilians/bureaucrats, media and soldiers - comprehend the mission in anything like a common manner?" "Are we accomplishing the mission we think we have accepted?" "Is the mission a good _'return on our investment'_ (in lives, treasure and Canada's international political/diplomatic capital)?"

It was kinda fun to be there and watch the _high priced help_ squirm.


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## Retired AF Guy (15 Dec 2008)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> He still does, at  a symposium, about a year ago he _sorted out_ a handful of professors and internationally known _*experts*_ by asking the key questions: "What is the aim - *our* (Canadian) aim?" "Do we - politicians, civilians/bureaucrats, media and soldiers - comprehend the mission in anything like a common manner?" "Are we accomplishing the mission we think we have accepted?" "Is the mission a good _'return on our investment'_ (in lives, treasure and Canada's international political/diplomatic capital)?"
> 
> It was kinda fun to be there and watch the _high priced help_ squirm.



He was also our ambassador to Italy the last couple of years I was in Naples('99 - '03). He was supposed to officiate at the '02 Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ortona but, unfortunately was a no-show due to back injuries. 

The above report states that Fowler's vehicle was found _northwest_ of the capital city, while this one  says _northeast_?? Go figure. 

This is what DFAIT has to say about  Niger: "_*advised to exercise a high degree of caution in the country. Travellers should maintain a high level of security awareness at all times and avoid public gatherings and street demonstrations."*_;

- "*Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada advises against all travel to northern Niger, beyond Tahoua. Rebel groups are active in the north-west and north-east regions, creating an extremely insecure situation. Reports indicate that targeted attacks on foreign workers by armed groups could occur. The Nigerian government has also restricted travel to northern Niger..*";

-"_*Canadians in Niger should remain vigilant and maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all times.*_" 

So I guess it doesn't really matter where his vehicle was found, the whole north is a danger zone. Here's hoping he, and the two with him, make it out Okay.


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## Edward Campbell (16 Dec 2008)

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _Globe and Mail_, is a report that Mr. Fowler has been kidnapped by a rebel group, the _Front des Forces de Redressement_ opposed to the government (if that’s the right word for a rag-tag mob of thieves) of President Mamadou Tandja:
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081216.wfowler1216/BNStory/International/home

 Niger rebel group says it holds Canadian UN envoy

Reuters and The Canadian Press

December 16, 2008 at 4:55 AM EST

A rebel group in Niger led by a dissident Tuareg insurgent leader said on Tuesday it was holding a retired Canadian diplomat serving as UN special envoy to the West African state who was reported missing on Monday.

"On December 15, 2008, fighters of the Front des Forces de Redressement (FFR) carried out a commando operation in the Tillabery region in which we detained four people including a Canadian diplomat, Mr. Robert Fowler," the FFR, which is led by dissident rebel leader Rhissa Ag Boula, said in a posting on its website.

United Nations officials said on Monday the UN vehicle in which Mr. Fowler, his Canadian aide Louis Guay and a local driver were travelling was found abandoned in southwest Niger some 45 kilometres from the capital Niamey.

Mr. Ag Boula, a leader of a previous rebellion by Niger's Tuaregs in the 1990s, said in the statement the operation was a warning to "all diplomats who collaborate with the ethnic-killing regime of (Niger President) Mamadou Tandja."

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the claim by the FFR, formed by dissident Tuareg fighters who split this year with the main Tuareg rebel group, the Niger Justice Movement (MNJ), which operates mainly in the desert north.

Mr. Ag Boula said Mr. Fowler was well and would be transported to a "safe place."

In a statement issued on Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said: "Our consular officials both in the capital of Niger as well as in other regional offices are actively engaged with both local and UN officials."

Mr. Cannon added that he has spoken with senior UN officials, and that consular officials are in contact with the families of both men to provide assistance and support.

"I want to assure family, friends and all Canadians that we will do everything we can to resolve the situation successfully."

Mr. Fowler, 64, is a former deputy Defence minister who later served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations and to Italy.

He has since worked as a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa's new graduate school of public and international affairs.

In July, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed him as special envoy for Niger, a country of about 15 million on the southwest flank of the Sahara.

Since 2007, a group called the Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la Justice has fomented unrest in the northern region of the country.

The group is predominantly made up of Tuaregs, a minority group of nomadic or semi-nomadic people who subsist by with their herds on the fringe of the desert.

Mr. Fowler has a long history with the UN. Early in his career, he served as first secretary with the Canadian mission to the world body. He would return as ambassador in 1995 and was a member of the Security Council in 1999-2000.

While on the council, he worked on a number of African issues, including efforts to stifle the trade in African blood diamonds.

After his stint at the UN, he helped organize the G8 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., and served as ambassador to Italy.

During his 38 years in the public service, Mr. Fowler acted as a foreign policy adviser to prime ministers Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien.

He was deputy minister of defence 1989-95, during a difficult time when the Somalia affair rocked the department and the military.
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For the record, I’m pretty sure Mr. Fowler is 68, not 64 as reported here.

Since it is unlikely that the UN can do anything useful about any dangerous situation and as Canada’s _footprint_ in Niger is _light_ to quite nonexistent it behoves Minister Cannon and Minister MacKay to seek some help from allies with resources in Niger to secure the release of the two Canadians, by whatever means necessary - even if a little (local) blood must be shed in the process.

Mr. Fowler is an _eminent person_ and *real* countries do not allow their eminent people to be held hostage by bandits.

Further, when, rather than if Africa becomes our new main area of combat operations, Niger is likely to be of the hell-holes in which Canadians troops will operate. The _problems_ are not just in Darfur or Somalia - they are everywhere in that poor, sad, failed continent; it is only a question of which problem, from Angola to Zimbabwe, explodes next and provides the political tipping point.


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## Edward Campbell (16 Dec 2008)

And here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _Ottawa Citizen_, is a report describing Mr. Fowler’s long connection with Africa:
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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Fowler+missing+Africa+loved+continent+friends/1079039/story.html

 Fowler, missing in Africa, loved the continent his friends say

BY GLEN MCGREGOR DECEMBER 15, 2008







Two Canadian diplomats, including one who served as foreign policy advisor to three prime ministers, have gone missing while on assignment for the United Nations in Niger.

Robert Fowler, formerly Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations and once one of Ottawa’s most powerful public servants, was reported missing after local authorities in the impoverished African country found the vehicle he was traveling in empty, with its lights on and engine running.

Louis Guay, another Canadian diplomat working with Mr. Fowler, is also missing, along with their driver.

Their vehicle was discovered on Sunday night in a small community about 45 kilometres from the capital city of Niamey. Three cell phones and a jacket were found inside the car.  

Mr. Fowler arrived in the country last week in his capacity as U.N. special envoy for Niger, reporting to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Guay is assisting Mr. Fowler with his work.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released Monday evening that Canadian officials are engaged with local and UN officials in Niger. Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon is following the situation closely, the statement said.

A UN spokesman said officials were attempting to determine where Mr. Fowler was headed when the vehicle was located.

“We trying to reconstruct what happened but we don’t have any specific details,” said Farhan Haq. He refuted reports that Mr. Fowler was working on issues related to the trade of illicit weapons in Africa, saying his brief pertained to Niger’s political situation generally.

Colleagues say Mr. Fowler, 68, has long been fascinated by Africa. As a young foreign service officer with the Department of External Affairs, he was first posted in Rwanda. He has returned to the continent regularly ever since.

While working as Canada’s ambassador to Italy, he served the dual role as the prime minister’s special ambassador for Africa and in 2005, worked on advisory team reporting to the prime minister on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Mr. Fowler was always careful about security while traveling in Africa, said Sen. Mobina Jaffer, who traveled with Mr. Fowler and Sen. Romeo Dallaire to Darfur.

“When you work in danger areas you don’t do stupid things but you just keep working, that was his attitude,” Ms. Jaffer said. “He was cautious but you know when you go into a conflict zone, it is not 100 per cent safe.”

An amateur photographer, Mr. Fowler’s affection for Africa and its people was evident in the many pictures he took while on traveling there, Ms. Jaffer said.

Mr. Fowler served as foreign policy advisor to prime minister’s Pierre Trudeau, John Turner and Brian Mulroney. He helped advance Africa on the Canadian agenda, said Senator Colin Kenny, a friend of Mr. Fowler’s and a former classmate from Bishops College Schools in Lennoxville, Que.

“He certainly connected with Trudeau on Africa. He caught the prime minister’s imagination with his ability to talk about his experiences,” Mr. Kenny said.

“He always talked about it as a place with issues and problems but I never heard him talk in the context of personal risks.”

In Ottawa, Mr. Fowler is best remembered as a powerful deputy minister of Defence under the Brian Mulroney government, in a difficult period that saw the department tarnished by the ill-fated mission in Somalia.   Later, he became the longest-serving Canadian ambassador to the U.N.

On a webpage featuring many of the photographs he has taken ( www.robertrfowler.com ), Mr. Fowler writes that his travels have taken him to “some of our time's most appalling circumstances.

“Whether it be the midst of the genocide in Rwanda, the ravages of the Angolan civil war, the never-ending struggle in the Middle East, or the pervasive and grinding poverty which afflicts so much of our world as we in the West enjoy a time of unprecedented plenty, individual dignity is ever-evident and the human spirit so clearly does prevail.

“It is this that I've tried to capture in these images.”

_With a file from Steven Edwards._

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
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Mr. Fowler was neither an amateur nor a tourist. He knew and understood the risks; he is, as befits a senior diplomat and public servant, appropriately cautious in word and deed, but his *mission* – _strategic_, political intelligence gathering for the UN’s Secretary General - entailed considerable risk, which he accepted as his duty.


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## George Wallace (16 Dec 2008)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act.  (Link in Title)

Two Canadian diplomats missing in Niger


Two Canadian diplomats have gone missing near Niamey, Niger, while working for the United Nations. 


15/12/2008 10:47:36 PM

CTV.ca News Staff 

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told CTV Newsnet that local residents found an abandoned United Nations Development Programme car late Sunday evening that was supposed to be carrying three people -- now identified as Canadians Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, and their unnamed driver. 

The car was found about 40 kilometres northeast of Niamey, the capital of Niger. 

All three are currently missing. 

"We at the UN are trying to get further information from the Nigerian authorities," Haq said. 

"The authorities in Niger are trying...to determine what's happened to those three missing individuals. But at present we don't have any real information about their whereabouts." 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed the 64-year-old Fowler as special envoy for Niger last July. 

Guay was working as Fowler's aide. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon released a statement Monday saying consular officials "are actively engaged" with officials in Niger and at the UN. 

"I want to assure family, friends and all Canadians that we will do everything we can to resolve the situation successfully," he said in the statement. 

Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy told CTV Newsnet it was not surprising that the two Canadian UN representatives were travelling throughout Niger without much support. 

"You don't have a lot of infrastructure, or protection, or security," said Axworthy, who has previously served as a special envoy for the UN. 

"You're running on a pretty lean entourage and you really have to make -- in many cases -- your own way. You don't have a lot of networks to work with."  

CTV parliamentary correspondent Roger Smith said Fowler's family knows that he is missing, but are reluctant to talk about the situation for fear that doing so may put him in danger. 

Fowler is also a senior fellow of the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. 

University of Ottawa spokesperson Nadine Saint-Amour told CTV.ca that Fowler had been teaching at the school since the fall of 2007. 

Fowler has had a long career in public service, working for Canada and for the UN. 

He is a former deputy defence minister, also served as a foreign policy adviser under several prime ministers and previously served as Canada's ambassador to Italy. 

Fowler is also a former Security Council member and UN ambassador. 

With files from The Canadian Press

============================================================

I just wonder what the UN thinks about, when it is being so naive as to not protect the people it sends off to nations like this around the world?


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## Armymedic (16 Dec 2008)

Would it be irony if the military unit he helped establish had to go rescue him?

But I digress.

From afar, in my youthful CF memories, I can not help but connect "Bob" with all things bad that was the CF and what passed as CF leadership in the early 90's. Also given his "love of Africa", it does not strike me as surprising that the CF had many pushes toward the Black Continent in the early 90s.


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## facemesser (16 Dec 2008)

perhaps this is a JTF-2 mission? if he's in Niger and they got everything right, of course. 

But what do I know , I'm still in the application process...

DLord


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## Blakey (16 Dec 2008)

Look above you, that's what PD was hinting at, but who knows, anything is within the realm of possibility.....


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## OldSolduer (16 Dec 2008)

Prairie Dog said:
			
		

> Would it be irony if the military unit he helped establish had to go rescue him?
> 
> But I digress.
> 
> From afar, in my youthful CF memories, I can not help but connect "Bob" with all things bad that was the CF and what passed as CF leadership in the early 90's. Also given his "love of Africa", it does not strike me as surprising that the CF had many pushes toward the Black Continent in the early 90s.



The early 90's was indeed the half decade of "my career" over "my troops". 

Bob Fowler may have not been a popular guy, but he's one of ours. I hope he comes out of this OK.


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## Rifleman62 (16 Dec 2008)

As I remember it : Career- Yes; Mission- Possibly; Troops - Never!

Mr Fowler will probably slip out of this. Hope so.


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## George Wallace (16 Dec 2008)

I don't know.  How do Rebels treat prisoners who are aloof or arrogant?


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## Rifleman62 (16 Dec 2008)

In this case, they protect them with indoctrinated child soldiers to preclude intervention.


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## Edward Campbell (16 Dec 2008)

George Wallace said:
			
		

> I don't know.  How do Rebels treat prisoners who are aloof or arrogant?



*If* that is your characterization of Mr. Fowler then I find it crude, ignorant, ill informed and offensive - most likely _informed_ by the likes of Scott Taylor and similar purveyors of trash.

If you're telling us how most of the little, narrow minded people who ran DND and the CF in the '80s and '90s saw Mr. Fowler then, "fair enough" - compared to, say, Maurice Baril Mr. Fowler had a lot about which to be arrogant and good reason to be aloof.

We'll see if Niger rebels can recognize and deal with a gentleman.


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## TCBF (16 Dec 2008)

- No matter what our differences of opinion with Mr. Fowler, he does not deserve his present circumstances, nor does his family.


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## OldSolduer (16 Dec 2008)

TCBF said:
			
		

> - No matter what our differences of opinion with Mr. Fowler, he does not deserve his present circumstances, nor does his family.



I heartily agree.


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## Edward Campbell (16 Dec 2008)

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _Globe and Mail_ web site, is an update:
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081216.wfowler1216/BNStory/International/home

 Niger rebels claim, then deny, they abducted Canadian

Canadian Press

December 16, 2008 at 12:44 PM EST

NIAMEY — A rebel group that claimed responsibility for kidnapping two Canadian diplomats in Niger quickly recanted its claim Tuesday, with the bizarre contradictory statements fuelling confusion over who has Robert Fowler.

The man described as the rebel group's No. 2 figure declared on its website that the United Nations envoy was among four people seized in a commando operation.

He said that the Front des Forces de Redressement had abducted Mr. Fowler, the UN's special envoy to Niger, in order to send a “strong signal” about Canada's support for the government. The Canadian government said a second diplomat was among those taken.

The resistance group's online statement was contradicted on the very 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 Mr. Fowler would be rapidly returned to Canadian consular authorities or to the UN.

That hope echoed the sentiments expressed earlier in the claim of responsibility, where the website said Fowler was doing well and would soon be transferred in a safe location.

Fowler was the only person mentioned by name on the FFR website. But the Department of Foreign Affairs said one of the other victims was Louis Guay, also a Canadian diplomat.

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 FFR.

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

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

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who appointed Mr. Fowler as UN special envoy to Niger in July, said his staff was doing all it could to find out what happened.

"We are doing all our best efforts about his whereabouts," he said.

Mr. Fowler, who served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 1995 to 2000, and Mr. 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, said Ban's office.

Mr. Fowler, 64, is a former deputy defence minister who later served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations and to Italy.

He has since worked as a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa's new graduate school of public and international affairs.

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

It says the hostages were taken to send a message to Canada, which it claims is providing Niger's government with arms used against local people.

The Tuareg nomads started their rebellion after claiming their desert people were being marginalized by Tandja's regime.

Kriska, the leader of the Tuareg rebel group, told Agence France Presse in a telephone interview that the posting on the group's website in which it took responsibility for kidnapping Mr. Fowler was mistaken.

“The person who posted that information on our website was led into error. This type of action is contrary to the vision and approach of the FFR.”
--------------------

Unfortunately I am far away from Ottawa and some usually reliable sources of information about who does what to whom in Africa, but this sort of thing – the right hand not knowing what the left is doing – is, I am told, fairly common.

But I worry that someone wanting to deny being a kidnapper might just dispose of the evidence in the most expeditious manner.


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## OldSolduer (16 Dec 2008)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> “
> 
> But I worry that someone wanting to deny being a kidnapper might just dispose of the evidence in the most expeditious manner.


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## Old Sweat (16 Dec 2008)

There are others plausible explanations. Methinks it's a little early to speculate about anything to do with this matter, including the fate of the captives.


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## OldSolduer (16 Dec 2008)

I kinda blew that last post. My apologies!!

I meant to add that terrorists and criminals don't  always take the big picture view of things.


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## Edward Campbell (16 Dec 2008)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> There are others plausible explanations. Methinks it's a little early to speculate about anything to do with this matter, including the fate of the captives.




Quire right, Old Sweat, worry too easily turns itself into fear, as we all should know.


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## Good2Golf (16 Dec 2008)

I think the rebel leader may actually realise that they stepped into it big time, and they're working a graceful, safe return of Mr. Fowler, M. Guay and the two UN staff.

Kind of like a "stupid pseudo-terrorist" take-back...ooops!


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## dapaterson (17 Dec 2008)

Mr Fowler also has significant Canadian political ties - his sister is married to the anything but apolitical former Governor General Romeo LeBlanc.

Formerly would-be Liberal party leader Dominic LeBlanc was quoted in today's Times Transcript



> Beauséjour MP Dominic LeBlanc is confident Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, who is his step-mother’s brother, will be released safely by rebels in Niger.
> 
> Fowler is the brother of Diana Fowler, who married LeBlanc’s father, Romeo LeBlanc.
> 
> ...


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## Yrys (18 Dec 2008)

Villager recalls seeing vehicle that carried UN envoys, From Thursday's Globe and Mail

NIAMEY/OTTAWA — A Niger villager says he watched the vehicle carrying two Canadian 
UN envoys and their driver disembark from a ferry early Sunday evening and head down 
the road from which they ultimately vanished.

“I personally saw their car when it was unloaded from the ferry and there were three 
people on board,” said Illiassou Abdou, the owner of a small café in Farié, a village close 
to the landing area. That was at 6:30 p.m. local time.

By late Wednesday afternoon, Robert Fowler, the UN special envoy to Niger, Louis Guay, 
an aide, and their locally based driver had not been heard from in more than three days.

But the United Nations was not yet willing to declare that Mr. Fowler and his companions 
had been kidnapped. Nor was his precise role in the impoverished West African nation 
made clear.

Rest of article on link


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## Yrys (18 Dec 2008)

Caught in the crossfire of two historical forces, From *Geoffrey Clarfield*, Thursday's Globe and Mail

The disappearance of two Canadian diplomats in the predominantly Muslim 
West African country of Niger - there is speculation their apparent abduction 
is related to a complex conflict involving the Niger government, rebel groups 
and international mining companies - is part of a much wider game: the 
struggle for political and economic power in one of the poorest countries in the world.

Niger is a nation of high infant-mortality rates. Slavery is still widely practised, 
with some sources suggesting that 8 per cent of the population live a life of 
bondage. Niger is also a nation plagued by periodic drought. It cannot grow 
enough food to feed itself, and it is dependant on donors. It has been democratic 
for less than a decade and it has experienced periodic rebellions by its northern 
ethnic groups.

The latest round of fighting began last year. This could be the fifth or the 10th 
"Tuareg revolt" of the past 100 years, depending on who's counting. Quite simply, 
there is a power struggle going on for who controls, and benefits from, Niger's 
meagre resources, a struggle that is being directed by the elites of two coalitions 
of ethnic groups - one largely African and agricultural that is based in the southern 
part of the country, the other largely Berber and nomadic pastoral that is based in 
the north. It is a struggle that has been going on for centuries, and it is a conflict 
as old as Jacob and Esau.

The southern, smallest and most densely populated part of the country is close to 
the Niger River where the Hausa, Djerma-Songhai and Gourmantche peoples 
sustain themselves through subsistence agriculture. These people are the dark-
skinned descendants of the great sedentary Sahelian Muslim kingdoms that arose 
during the Middle Ages and to whose French-educated elites the former French 
colonialists gave the reins of power, when Niger became independent in the 1960s.

The largest groups of northerners are the Tuareg, light-skinned nomadic camel 
herders, former slave traders and raiders who were once the masters of the 
Saharan gold trade. During colonial times, they were the most resistant to 
modernization, education and change. They were, and to some degree remain, 
predatory warriors and smugglers who roam the desert caravan routes, taking 
what they want by sword or gun.

During colonial times, their elites did not send their sons to France, so they did 
not master the "means of administration." Ever since the southerners took control 
of the state and the army after independence, they have been at a distinct disadvantage.

Since then, their grazing lands have been restricted, their slave raiding and slaves 
have been declared illegal, their elites have not been represented in the government 
and, most galling to them, they have not shared in any of the wealth that has emerged 
from the uranium mines that supply Niger with 70 per cent of its export earnings and 
that are located in the desert wastelands of their traditional grazing lands.

Until recently, French companies had a monopoly on the mining and exportation of 
uranium from the deserts of northern Niger. In the past two years, however, the 
Niger government has considered allowing other companies to invest, including 
Canadian firms that are also involved in the development of gold mines. Through 
their periodic rebellions, the Tuareg are trying to tell both the government and 
foreign investors that they want a piece of the pie. And since it has been their 
historical custom to take what they want, they most likely kidnapped the two 
Canadians - Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, both of whom were representing 
the United Nations - in the hope that the Canadian government could help 
them put pressure on the Niger government and thus gain the pair's release.

UN negotiators have dealt with this kind of situation before, and one sincerely 
hopes they will find a way to negotiate the release of Mr. Fowler and Mr. Guay. 
Meantime, Canadians should recognize that Niger and the other states of the 
Sahel are one extended battleground between northerners and southerners. In 
Niger, Mali, Chad and Sudan, one must take great care not to get caught in the 
crossfire between these two opposing historical forces.

_Geoffrey Clarfield is a Toronto-based anthropologist._


----------



## Edward Campbell (18 Dec 2008)

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _National Post_, is a report indicating that Mr. Fowler may have annoyed or _dissed_ the Niger government or, at least, failed to saddle himself with a government _minder_:
--------------------
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1088478

 Fowler ignored protocol, Niger journalist says
*Envoy Still Missing; Did not inform government of trip or take official along*

Steven Edwards, Agence France-Presse; Canwest News Service; With files from Marianne White,

Published: Thursday, December 18, 2008

UNITED NATIONS - Missing Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler failed to follow Niger government guidelines for visiting diplomats who want to travel in the country, it was alleged yesterday.

Foreign officials are routinely asked to not only give the Niger foreign affairs ministry an account of where they are going, but take with them a "protocol official," according to prominent Niger journalist Boubacar Diallo.

But Mr. Fowler-- who disappeared on Sunday along with his Canadian aide, Louis Guay, and their Nigerois driver -- set off that day without fulfilling those requirements, Mr. Diallo said he has learned from government officials.

While Mr. Fowler entered Niger on Dec. 11 as the United Nations envoy to the country, all that remained publicly known yesterday was that the UN-marked vehicle carrying the three men had been found abandoned on Sunday 45 kilometres from the capital, Niamey. "The problem for the government is that normally when a diplomat travels in Niger, he must inform the government," Mr. Diallo said in a telephone interview from Niger.

"But it appears Mr. Fowler left without informing the foreign affairs ministry, [or] even the protocol official that they had agreed would accompany him."

Officials have not confirmed Mr. Diallo's information.

The Niger government has said it believes the three men disappeared after visiting Samira Hill Gold Mine, which is part owned by Canada's Etruscan Resources.

But Mr. Diallo, who has worked on human-rights issues as president of the Niger Association of Independent Press Editors, said his efforts to locate anyone that Mr. Fowler may have met at the mine have been fruitless.

The Niger government has repeatedly said it believes Mr. Fowler's trip on Sunday was unconnected with his mandate as UN envoy, which in itself was a largely hush-hush affair.
--------------------

I don’t not think it would be out of character for Mr. Fowler to, politely, ignore government efforts to restrict his access to people and places he might have felt necessary to visit.


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## Edward Campbell (18 Dec 2008)

And here is more, relative to the gold mine visit, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _National Post_:
--------------------
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1091367

 Missing diplomat did visit gold mine

Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service

Published: Thursday, December 18, 2008

UNITED NATIONS -- Missing Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler and his aide Louis Guay did make it to a gold mine the Niger government says they visited ahead of their disappearance Sunday.

Early reports suggested the pair vanished before the visit, but Messrs. Fowler and Guay were at the mine in the afternoon and disappeared about two-and-a-half hours later, en route to the Nigerian capital of Niamey, about 100 kilometres to the east.

According to information gathered by one of the Canadian part-owners of the Samira Hill Gold Mine in western Niger, Mr. Fowler had sought permission to visit the mine while in the landlocked African country as a United Nations special envoy, and was told he needed to give only 24 hours' notice of his arrival.

The mine is a Canadian-based venture, operated jointly by Semafo Inc., of Montreal and Etruscan Resources Inc., of Nova Scotia.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named Mr. Fowler special envoy to the country in near secrecy in July, informing only the Canadian and Nigerois governments -- and bypassing even the UN Security Council, which is customarily informed of such appointments.

The UN says his mandate was "exploratory" in nature -- and came against a backdrop of armed rebellion in much of the north of the country by Tuareg tribesmen, who claim ownership of land in Niger's north containing highly valuable uranium deposits.

The mine lies 90 kilometres west of Niamey, Niger's capital, whereas the Niger government has said the UN-marked vehicle in which the three men travelled was found abandoned Sunday 45 kilometres from the capital.

More precisely, the Niger government has since said the vehicle was abandoned at or near a ferry over the Niger River, which must be crossed to reach Samira.

Nevertheless, the ferry landing is also adjacent to a north-south road gives access to Tuareg-occupied areas in the north.[/size]
--------------------

I find this part interesting: _” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named Mr. Fowler special envoy to the country in near secrecy in July, informing only the Canadian and Nigerois governments -- and bypassing even the UN Security Council, which is customarily informed of such appointments … The UN says his mandate was "exploratory" in nature.”_


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## Yrys (18 Dec 2008)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> I don’t not think it would be out of character for Mr. Fowler to, politely,
> ignore government efforts to restrict his access to people and places he might have felt necessary to visit.



Wouldn't he be more or less obligated, as a diplomat send there to act between 2 factions,
to ditch a representative of one faction to be able to go talk to the other ?


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## Edward Campbell (18 Dec 2008)

Yrys said:
			
		

> Wouldn't he be more or less obligated, as a diplomat send there to act between 2 factions,
> to ditch a representative of one faction to be able to go talk to the other ?



Given the statement that his mission was _"exploratory"_ in nature I would think he wasn't talking - officially - to either faction. He might have felt that a government _minder_ would cripple any _"exploration"_ he might want to do. Rebels would be highly unlikely to agree to meet with him if he had a government official in tow. Perhaps he was _"exploring"_ for people who might be acceptable to all factions.


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## Yrys (18 Dec 2008)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> Rebels would be highly unlikely to agree to meet with him if he had a government official in tow. Perhaps he was _"exploring"_ for people who might be acceptable to all factions.



I hope that is the case. It would mean that they're alive somewhere in the country, 
and will come back when "exploration" will go on pause.


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## Edward Campbell (22 Dec 2008)

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _National Post_, is an update on Mr. Fowler’s situation:
--------------------
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1097455

 Clock ticking for missing diplomat

Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service

Published: Friday, December 19, 2008

UNITED NATIONS -- A senior Niger official said Friday the next "hours and days" would be crucial in the search for missing Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler and his aide Louis Guay.

The comment came as United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon phoned Niger President Mamadou Tandja to -- in the words of one UN official -- "express his appreciation" of the efforts Niger authorities were making to find the Canadians and their Niger driver.

Canada has dispatched at least one RCMP specialist to Niger to join a UN investigative team in place to help the Niger probe.

"The inquiry continues to follow its course," Bachir Hadj, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Niger, said by phone from Niamey, the capital. "The next hours or days will be determinant."

He stressed it remained unknown whether the men had been kidnapped, or disappeared for some other reason.

Their UN-marked vehicle was discovered abandoned Sunday near the ferry crossing about half way along the route to a Canadian-run gold mine they had visited some 90 kilometres west of Niamey.

Officials with lines of communication to the investigation say no one appears to have contacted Niger, UN or Canadian authorities in the land-locked African country to say they are holding the men.

Mr. Tandja faced criticism in the Niger media Friday after failing to refer to what has become known as "the disappearance" in a major address he gave the day before to mark the 50th anniversary of the country's independence from France.

News reports in Niger have referred to Mr. Fowler as "Mr. Africa" and said he is a "friend" of the country.

Mr. Ban quietly appointed Mr. Fowler in July as UN Special Envoy to Niger amid intensification of the rebellion of Tuareg tribesmen over land containing rich uranium deposits. The retired Canadian official has considerable experience with African conflict: As the longest serving Canadian ambassador to the UN in the late 1990s, he fronted what for a time was a Canadian-led effort to end the conflict-diamond trade in Angola.

A day after he arrived in Niger Dec. 11, he met with Interior Minister Albade Abouba and Justice Minister Dagra Mamadou even though officially Niger has never called the UN to intervene in the Tuareg uprising.

_Canwest News Service_
--------------------


One would have thought (hoped) that someone would have demanded something if Mr. Fowler is indeed being held for some kind of ransom.


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## Old Sweat (22 Dec 2008)

Speaking as a person with no real base of knowledge of the situation other than that which has been published, it still seems to me that the silence indicates that Fowler et al were not taken by a group with ransom as a motive. It also seems to me that this group would have nothing to gain by identifying itself immediately if its motives are political. Organizations such as FARC have been known to remain quiet for a considerable length of time after having taken hostages. To take the discussion any further would be to speculate.


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## dapaterson (22 Dec 2008)

That we haven't heard of any requests does not mean that there have not been any.


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## Kirkhill (23 Dec 2008)

Bourque  weaves another couple of threads into this tapestry:




> Much ado about nothing, the *Ontario government is about to award a $40 billion dollar nuclear reactor contract*. It will be nothing less than the single largest government contract ever awarded in Canada. Period. *Primary bidders include Canada's own CANDU and France's AREVA*. According to one of the articles above, "*Areva has been extracting uranium for over 40 years from Touareg territories in Niger*. Its intense activity pollutes their lands and waters irreversably". (Related protests occured in front of Areva HQ in Paris saturday.) Curiously, the McGuinty government pulled the Cone of Silence down on any public discourse pertaining to this project months ago for reasons that remain unknown, despite a poll earlier this year showing 76% of respondents wanting an open and transparent process. In unrelated matters, *Benoit Lasalle, CEO of Semafo in Montreal, runs the only non-Areva mine in Niger, the exact same mine where Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay showed up unannounced and were last seen alive last week*. One unsubstantiated rumour that has reached us, by the way, suggests that the two latter-day StanleyLivingstonian dips "may be released in a couple days ... it could be they were being taught a lesson as they were pissing off the President of Niger" for reasons that as of yet remain unclear.



Bourque isn't always the best of sources but if true it puts another slant on the disappearance.

Other names associated with Niger uranium - Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame, George Bush and Saddam Hussein, Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald (of Conrad Black and Rod Blagojevich fame), 


And: 





> Italy blames France for Niger uranium claim
> 
> By Bruce Johnston in Brussels and Kim Willsher in Paris
> Last Updated: 5:48PM BST 18 Sep 2004
> ...


  Telegraph 2004


An awful lot of murk in that part of the world.....


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## OldSolduer (23 Dec 2008)

CSA 105 said:
			
		

> I' "UN investigative team"



I wonder what comprises that team.


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## garb811 (23 Dec 2008)

The UN has a Personal Security department, I'd expect some of them, plus a few political wonks.  Quality varies...


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## dapaterson (23 Dec 2008)

garb811 said:
			
		

> The UN has a Personal Security department, I'd expect some of them, plus a few political wonks.  Quality varies...


Between horrible and very poor...


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## dapaterson (23 Dec 2008)

And here I thought I was being an optimist...


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## leroi (7 Jan 2009)

I haven't seen much in the way of follow-up news on this but, it appears, the three are still missing:

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/chatter-1-7-2009

Diplomat Bob Fowler Still at Large Weeks After Disappearance in Niger 
by Jeff Davis     

 Published January 7 2009     

It has now been twenty-four days since Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay went missing in Niger, and it seems Canadian and international authorities are far from repatriating the two. 

Mr. Fowler, the UN secretary-general's special envoy to Niger, and Mr. Guay, the deputy director of DFAIT's Sudan task force, and their locally-engaged driver were last seen on Dec. 14. The two disappeared while driving back from a visit to a gold mine operated by Canadian company Semafo. 

The fact that their truck, which bore UN markings, as well as their telephones were left on the scene has led investigators to believe they were kidnapped. 

In an interview with Embassy, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's spokesman Farhan Haq said: "At this stage we don't have any solid information" on the whereabouts of the two. 

He said no proof of life has been received, and no groups have claimed responsibility for the presumed kidnapping. 

Mr. Haq also said no authorities or individuals have received any sort of communication from the missing men, adding: "We don't know where he might be." 

He said UN and Canadian authorities have been working with authorities across the region, and that both UN and Canadian authorities are now investigating on the ground. "I believe there is RMCP involvement in this," said Mr. Haq. 

Whereas the UN offices readily provided the facts, neither the office of Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon nor DFAIT communications staff would release any information on the case. "DFAIT will not comment or release any information which may compromise efforts and jeopardize the safety of Canadians or other citizens," said one spokeswoman. 

It is not known whether the Canadians are still in Niger, though there is some reason to believe they could now be in neighbouring Mali. Word is that Bill Crosbie, the assistant deputy minister for consular services, has travelled to Mali. In addition, news service Agence France-Presse has reported that Canada has asked authorities in Mali for their co-operation. 

"Canada has asked Mali's help and support to help the search for its two lost diplomats," a Malian diplomatic source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We responded that we would do everything to help Canada, a friendly nation."


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## Danjanou (7 Jan 2009)

OldSolduer said:
			
		

> I wonder what comprises that team.


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## Edward Campbell (9 Jan 2009)

And here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the _Globe and Mail_ web site, is another report that says, “nothing to report:”
--------------------
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090108.wfowler08/BNStory/International/home

 No ransom demand made for diplomats

CAMPBELL CLARK

From Thursday's Globe and Mail
January 8, 2009 at 4:28 AM EST

OTTAWA — No ransom demand has been made for two Canadian diplomats who vanished while on a high-level UN mission in the West African nation of Niger, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said yesterday.

Robert Fowler and Louis Guay have been missing since Dec. 14, but no group has come forward to say they abducted the pair for political ends or to demand money in return for their release, according to Canadian and UN officials.

"No, we haven't had any ransom demands to that effect," Mr. Cannon said.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said he considers their abduction a "major concern" and that he has twice spoken to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about it.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said no group has come forward to claim responsibility, although he said UN officials are trying to pursue some leads.

Mr. Fowler, a highly respected retired diplomat for Canada, was quietly appointed last summer as UN special envoy to Niger to explore the possibility of peace talks between the government of President Mamadou Tandja and Tuareg rebel groups in the north.

He disappeared Dec. 14 along with Mr. Guay, a senior Canadian diplomat, and their driver from Niger. Their car was found on the road about 40 kilometres from the capital, Niamey, with the engine running. They were returning from a visit to a mine operated by a Canadian company.

An offshoot rebel group, the Front des Forces de Redressement, briefly claimed responsibility, but later denied involvement.
--------------------

I have very little to zero faith in the investigative capabilities of DFAIT and the UN and even less in their abilities to actually do anything. I also fear that the people who might be able to go and find Mr. Fowler are unprepared to operate in Niger right now.

Not encouraging.


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## Old Sweat (9 Jan 2009)

There also been some speculation in the press that they may have taken to Mali. However, others have hinted that the Niger government may have had a hand in it, although the reason and the reasoning behind the theory are not clear.


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## Old Sweat (13 Jan 2009)

The president of Niger is blaming "terrorist groups" here:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jCzz1y9XN6gPYUnBOzzSKZClDNog


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## riggermade (13 Jan 2009)

Seems to me that very little is being reported on this.  Good or bad, waits to be seen, maybe with little news coverage they get released


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## leroi (23 Jan 2009)

I'm posting this here because it seems like the same M.O. as the Fowler kidnapping:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=1206896

4 European Tourists Kidnapped in Niger

Agence France-Presse
Published: Thursday, January 22, 2009

BAMAKO - Unknown assailants kidnapped a group of European tourists on Thursday, including two Swiss, one German and a Briton, in Niger near the Malian border, a regional governor in Mali said.

"We just finished the latest verification and there are a total of four European tourists kidnapped on Niger's territory close to the border with Mali: one German national, one British national and two Swiss nationals," General Amadou Baba Toure, governor of Gao province, told AFP.

Robert Fowler, the UN envoy to Niger, disappeared along with his assistant and their driver on the way back from a visit to a gold mine operated by Canadian company Semafo, west of Niamey.

The group had been returning from a festival of nomad culture at Anderamboukane, on the border between Mali and Niger, when they were seized, the Malian authorities said.

A source in the Malian security forces confirmed the kidnapping, adding that it took place at Bani-Bangou, 60 kilometres from the border with Mali.

Germany's foreign ministry confirmed it had received information that a German woman had disappeared in Mali.

"The foreign ministry and the (German) embassy in Bamako are following information that a German woman disappeared today in the middle of the day in Mali," a ministry spokesman told AFP.

"They are trying to shed light on what happened."

In London, Britain's foreign ministry said it had heard the reports of the kidnapping but could not confirm British nationals were involved.

The north of Mali has been the scene of violent clashes between Tuareg rebel groups and the Malian army in recent years.

The Tuaregs are a nomadic desert people who have roamed the southern Sahara for centuries. In recent years they have staged uprisings in both Mali and Niger, claiming autonomy for their traditional homeland.

Two Canadian diplomats, one of them the United Nations envoy to Niger, disappeared in Niger in early December and are presumed kidnapped.

The car UN envoy Robert Fowler and his assistant Louis Guay were travelling in was discovered on December 15 at the side of the road in an apparently trouble-free area close to the capital Niamey. It's engine was running and the vehicle's doors were wide open.

Last week Niger's President Mamadou Tandja said the diplomats were being held by terrorist groups.

"All the investigations undertaken indicate they are being held hostage by terrorist groups," Tanja said, referring to Tuareg rebel groups operating in the north of the country.

© Agence France-Press


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## leroi (24 Jan 2009)

More speculation and possible links to a-Q:

Abducted Without a Trace

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090123.wfowler0123/BNStory/International/home


GEOFFREY YORK 
Globe and Mail Update: Reproduced under Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act
January 24, 2009 at 1:04 AM EST

KARMA, Niger — 

In an empty expanse of blazing hot scrubland, the last remaining sign of the abducted Canadians is the scraped surface of the desert, where investigators used a bulldozer to remove a layer of the rocky red soil to search for clues.


Now the police have abandoned the site, and silence hangs over the spot where Robert Fowler and Louis Guay vanished into the twilight of western Niger six weeks ago. There is only a passing donkey cart and an occasional herd of goats, standing on their hind legs to reach the leaves of the thorn trees.


The harmattan — the wind from the Sahara — fills the sky with dust, gradually obliterating the final traces of the abduction.


Mr. Fowler, 64, was one of Ottawa's most powerful bureaucrats before his retirement. He had served as an ambassador to the United Nations, a deputy minister of defence, a top adviser to a string of prime ministers and a veteran of war zones from Rwanda to Darfur. Yet this time he may have ventured a step too far.


The tale of the vanished Canadians has all the elements of a Graham Greene thriller: the secretive diplomats who concealed their true mission, their mysterious disappearance in an obscure African country, the intricate games of the rebels and the government and the foreign investigators who are struggling to understand it all.


But if this is a Graham Greene mystery, it has a 21st-century twist: The Islamic radicals with ties to al-Qaeda who investigators believe may now be holding the diplomats. The radicals have emerged as a growing power in North Africa and now seem to be expanding into countries such as Mali and Niger — a vast new territory for their ambitions.


SPIRITED INTO DESERT


The captors weren't lacking in confidence. The site is within several kilometres of a military base and a high-security prison, just 15 minutes past a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Niger's capital, Niamey. The diplomats were snatched almost under the noses of the police and the military.


The impoverished farmers who live in thatched huts down the road are afraid to talk about what happened. They saw the police and soldiers searching the desert for two days, and they know about the interrogations and arrests of innocent local residents. They prefer to say nothing.


"We don't want to go to Koutoukale," says one woman, referring to the nearby prison where a former prime minister is already jailed. "The military patrols and the gendarmerie were here for two days. They asked us if we knew anything about the two missing foreigners, but we didn't know anything. They asked us if we'd had any visitors on those days, but we hadn't."


The abduction was an audacious coup. Just as the sun was setting on Dec. 14, the abductors pulled over the United Nations jeep. They grabbed Mr. Fowler and his Canadian aide, Mr. Guay, along with their UN driver, and spirited them into the desert, leaving their vehicle with the motor running. Six weeks later, no one has found a trace of them.


The leading theory among investigators, according to government sources, is that the Canadians are in the hands of a radical Islamic group with links to al-Qaeda. They may have been sold or traded to the Islamic militants by Tuareg nomads who captured the men for profit without realizing the full value of Mr. Fowler, a special envoy who was appointed to one of the highest ranks in the UN system.


The investigators — a joint force of Canadian, American and UN security experts and intelligence agencies — believe that the captors succeeded in whisking the diplomats out of Niger and into a remote no man's land on the margins of the Sahara, probably in neighbouring Mali or Algeria, where borders are porous and the authorities have little control. It is there, in an isolated desert stronghold, where the two Canadians may still be held.


The theory of a Tuareg-Islamic connection has become stronger since the capture of four European tourists in Mali this week near the Niger border and less than 250 kilometres from where the Canadians were abducted. The deserts of Mali and Niger are dominated by the blue-turbaned Tuareg people who roam across the Sahara, one of the harshest landscapes on Earth. Anti-terrorism officials have concluded that there are "opportunistic links" between Tuareg rebels and the Islamic radicals.


Continued on Page 2…

Page 1 of 3


----------



## George Wallace (31 Jan 2009)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act:

Evidence suggests Fowler is alive: UN diplomat
By Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service        January 30, 2009

UNITED NATIONS — Evidence has emerged suggesting Robert Fowler — the Canadian United Nations envoy who disappeared last month in Niger with his Canadian assistant and locally hired driver — is alive, a UN Security Council diplomat said Friday.

Hope remains that Louis Guay, the Foreign Affairs official who accompanied Fowler to the West African country, and their driver Soumana Mounkaila of Niger are also alive, officials said.

The trio disappeared Dec. 14 as they returned to the Niger capital of Niamey after visiting a Canadian-run gold mine in the western part of the country — and no word has emerged publicly about their fate until now.

“There has been evidence some days ago that he was alive,” the Security Council diplomat said of Fowler. “All these issues are very complicated.”

The diplomat did not want to be identified.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke privately late last week with Fowler’s wife, Mary, and “reiterated that we’re doing all that we can to locate the missing men,” said Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman.

Speculation has been increasingly focused on the possibility that operatives with — or connected to — the extremist group al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had come to hold the trio.

The involvement in the search for the men of U.S. intelligence officials also suggested that suspicion focused on an internationally active group like AQIM.

“I didn’t know that people thought he wasn’t alive,” said one intelligence officer Friday.

AQIM’s involvement appeared increasingly likely following the abduction last week of four European tourists in the northeast part of Mali, close to the Niger border. Mali is where the extremist group last year held two Austrian tourists they’d abducted in Tunisia in February before releasing them in October after demanding an $8-million ransom payment.

The kidnappers of the four Europeans did so in a manner that was similar to that suggested by evidence left at the scene where Fowler and his colleagues disappeared about 45 kilometres northeast of Niamey.

The kidnappers of the Europeans abandoned the tourists’ two all-terrain vehicles and released one of their local tour-guide drivers after beating him — while a third all-terrain vehicle containing three other tourists and their driver escaped. 

Similarly, the UN-marked vehicle carrying Fowler, Guay and Mounkaila was also abandoned with personal effects such as cellphones left inside.

Retired from the Canadian diplomatic corps, Fowler, a father of four, was the longest serving Canadian ambassador to the UN, is a former deputy defence minister, and has advised several prime ministers. Guay, a father of five, had worked most recently on the Sudan desk at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Some early speculation suggested the Niger government might have been behind their disappearance because it had been unhappy about his reason for visiting the country as a UN envoy.

However, the government is also considered by experts to be one of the more responsible on the continent as it searches for foreign investment, while observers also pointed out it would have no incentive to abduct tourists.

Ban had dispatched Fowler on what was described as an “exploratory” peace mission against the backdrop of rising conflict between the Niger government and rebels of the Tuareg people in the north of the country.

The Niger government opposes any talks with the rebels, whom it describes as bandits, but nevertheless permitted Fowler and Guay to travel to the country.

The government itself, meanwhile, has pointed the finger at the Tuareg rebels, who are demanding up to 30 per cent of revenues from uranium mining being conducted in the north.

A splinter group of one of the main rebel armies at first claimed responsibility for the men’s disappearance, then denied any involvement.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service


LINK


----------



## old medic (8 Feb 2009)

Canadian diplomats missing in Niger spotted: AFP
Feb. 7 2009
The Canadian Press article - copy at http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090207/envoy_missing_090207/20090207?hub=TopStories



> A media report is citing unnamed sources in west Africa who say they have viewed a video depicting two Canadian diplomats who vanished last year in Niger.
> 
> News service Agence-France Press says the purported recording of United Nations envoy Robert Fowler, 64, and his assistant, Louis Guay, has been turned over to Canadian authorities.
> 
> ...


----------



## The Bread Guy (8 Feb 2009)

Link to Agence France-Presse's version - pdf attached if link doesn't work - shared with the usual disclaimer....


> Canada has received a videocassette as proof that two of its diplomats kidnapped in Niger in mid-December are still alive, sources close to the investigation in Mali said Saturday.
> 
> "In the cassette, we see the two Canadian diplomats appear before the camera in turn to introduce themselves", a local elder from northern Mali who has seen the video told AFP.
> 
> ...


----------



## the 48th regulator (17 Feb 2009)

Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act

*Al-Qaida barters with Canadian diplomats*
  
Steven Edwards 
Canwest News Service 
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 

UNITED NATIONS - Suspected kidnappers of two Canadian diplomats on a United Nations mission to Niger have set a "prisoner exchange" as a condition for their release, Canwest News Service has learned.  This emerges as al-Qaida's wing in North Africa Tuesday claimed responsibility for holding Robert Fowler and his Foreign Affairs aide Louis Guay - as well as four Western tourists kidnapped in Niger's neighbour Mali, near the border between the two countries.  The "prisoner exchange" demand has complicated efforts to free the Canadians, who disappeared Dec. 14 along with their locally hired driver, Soumana Mounkaila.

Neither Canada nor the UN would have control over any prisoners the kidnappers might seek in the region.  As such, officials assigned to the search for the trio fear the quest for a resolution will be lengthy, sources said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.  The search for Fowler and Guay extended some weeks ago into Mali which, like Niger, has been battling various rebel factions of the regionally dispersed Tuareg nomads. But Mali last year also saw the North African al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) hold two Austrian tourists on its soil for months.

While the Austrians were released in October after AQIM demanded an $8 million ransom, the four additional Western tourists AQIM now says it is holding - they are two Swiss, a German and a Briton - were kidnapped in January.  "We are glad to bring good tidings to our Islamic nation about the success of the mujahedeen in carrying out two quality operations in Niger," a Maghreb Qaida spokesman said on an audio recording aired by the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television.  The spokesman said militants "reserved the right to deal with the six captives under Islamic Shariah (law)," and added the group would soon announce its conditions.  Canada has said consistently it will not comment on whom it thinks may be holding the men, or issue any other information about efforts to win the men's release. To analysts, the al-Qaida reference to applying Shariah law is tantamount to a threat the hostages will be killed if the group's conditions are not met.  Algerian-based AQIM have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in recent years, and a number of its members are jailed in Algeria and Tunisia.  Identification of the prisoner-exchange demand comes after Agence France-Presse reported from Mali Feb. 7 that Fowler and Guay appear on a videocassette now in the hands of Canadian authorities.

In the video, Fowler is seen asking for a response to unspecified demands of his armed kidnappers, AFP says, citing a northern Malian "elder" and another Malian source who had seen it.  While public knowledge of the videocassette came only after the AFP report, it was "sent" within days of the trio's disappearance, Canwest News Service has additionally learned.  Curiously, within a day of the kidnapping, a splinter group of the main Tuareg rebel group in Niger said it had snatched the men - but withdrew the claim the next day.  Then, towards the end of January, Canadian investigators visited northern Mali elders, AFP reported. Significantly, Malian elders were central to helping Austrian authorities reclaim their nationals, a source with knowledge of that investigation told Canwest News Service.  They "put pressure on" AQIM as the terrorist group held the tourists in Mali after snatching them in Tunis in February 2008, the source said.

In Niger, the government of President Mamadou Tandja has a public policy of not endorsing any talks with Niger-based Tuareg rebels, who demand up to 30 per cent of revenues from uranium mining in traditional Tuareg lands in northern Niger.  In Mali, meanwhile, the defence ministry announced Feb. 11 it had routed a faction of the Tuareg rebels on Malian soil that had refused to take part in an Algerian-brokered peace process.  In that operation, Mali said it took 22 Tuareg rebels prisoner.

The UN publicly confirmed last week that Canada had received the video showing Fowler and Guay, but added that UN investigators had at that point not received a copy.  "We have not seen it, but we have been told about it," spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters at the daily UN media briefing.   The UN officially holds the lead in the investigation because all three men represented the UN.

Fowler, a former Canadian ambassador to the UN, was a UN envoy charged with trying to find avenues for peace against the backdrop of the rising Tuareg rebellion.  Guay, a veteran Foreign Affairs officer, was his aide. Mounkaila was a driver for the UN Development Program in Niger.  The trio's UN-marked vehicle was found abandoned Dec. 15 along the road they were taking to return, the day before, to the Niger capital of Niamey after they had visited a Canadian-run gold mine in the reputedly safe southwestern part of the country.

© Canwest News Service 2009

Copyright © 2009 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.


----------



## leroi (20 Feb 2009)

More bad news (3 alleged pictures of hostages on link):

Al-Qaida N. Africa Claims 6 Hostages

(Reproduced under the _Fair Dealing _ provision of the _Copyright Act.)_

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/02/19/Al-Qaida_N_Africa_claims_6_hostages/UPI-59611235066594/


NIAMEY, Niger, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida's North Africa branch claims it is holding hostage a Canadian U.N. peace envoy, his aide and four tourists who were kidnapped in the Sahara.

A spokesman for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, an Algerian group that claims to have joined Osama bin Laden's terror network in 2006 but some say has simply adopted the name, threatened "to deal with the six kidnapped according to Islamic Shariah law," an audio recording played on pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera said.

This appears to be a threat to execute the six Westerners if the organization's demands are not met, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported.

An identical threat was posted on militant Web sites, said SITE, a U.S. organization that monitors militant messages.

The al-Qaida group didn't issue immediate demands for the hostages' release, the Telegraph reported.

Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, the special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Niger, and aide Louis Guay, both diplomats, were kidnapped Dec. 14 near Niger's capital, Niamey.

Four tourists, including a Swiss couple, a German woman and a British man, were kidnapped Jan. 22 in neighboring Mali after attending a Tuareg cultural festival there, the BBC reported.

"We are aware of the reports but we have nothing further to comment," a U.N. spokeswoman said.

Swiss and British officials said they were seeking to secure the tourists' safety. Germany had no immediate comment. 


© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


----------



## The Bread Guy (21 Feb 2009)

Alleged photos of hostages on link, attachment

*"Kidnapping the U.N. Envoy, his assistant and 4 European tourists"*
Posted by Elsi at Takva Forum attributed to Al-Qaeda Organization in The Islamic West, retrieved 21 Feb 09 here (original in Arabic attached as .pdf)



> In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
> 
> The Al-Qaeda Organization in The Islamic West
> 
> ...


----------



## leroi (21 Feb 2009)

The haunting image of those hostages sufferring faces combined with al-Qaeda's gloating words rips the heart right out of my chest ... pure unadulterated evil ...


----------



## tomahawk6 (21 Feb 2009)

I think they will be ransomed at some point. If they were americans ......


----------



## The Bread Guy (21 Feb 2009)

(A little bit) more from Canadian Press:


> Canada's Foreign Affairs Department says it is aware of a reported demand by kidnappers holding two Canadian diplomats, but is not making any other comment.  Agence France-Press quotes a source in Mali as saying al-Qaida's North African branch is demanding the release of two Mauritanian members.  There is no independent way to verify the report, which represents the group's first demand for a ransom.  AFP says Canada has enlisted the help of several countries, including Mali, in an effort to secure the release of Robert Fowler, the UN secretary general's special envoy to Niger, and his aide, diplomat Louis Guay.  Foreign affairs spokesperson Lisa Monette says officials are aware of the media report but had no comment, while a United Nations spokeswoman also had no comment ....


----------



## old medic (23 Mar 2009)

Driver of Canadian envoys kidnapped in Niger freed
Mar. 23 2009
The Associated Press
copy at : http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090323/driver_freed_090323/20090323?hub=World



> UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations says the driver of two Canadian diplomats kidnapped in Niger in December has been released unharmed.
> 
> It says Soumana Mounkaila, a Niger national, was freed after several governments in the region intervened.
> 
> ...


----------



## The Bread Guy (28 Mar 2009)

From CanWest News Service:


> A second video of two Canadian diplomats and their driver who were kidnapped in Niger in December has been passed to the Canadian and Malian authorities, a Malian source said Thursday.
> 
> "A second cassette showing this time not only the two Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler, the UN Secretary General's special envoy to Niger, and Louis Gay but also their driver (Soumana Moukaila) exists," the source said.
> 
> ...



...and from Reuters:


> Al Qaeda's North African arm has demanded 20 of its members be released from detention in Mali and other countries as a condition for releasing six Western hostages, an Algerian newspaper reported on Saturday.
> 
> Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has said it is holding two Canadian diplomats seized in Niger in December, including the U.N. special representative to the West African country, and four European tourists kidnapped nearby in Mali in January.
> 
> ...



And the Google English version (from the Arabic version) in _el Khabar_ - note what appears to be Algerian security forces/commandos being sent to nearby foreign embassies to beef up security:


> ....Informed source revealed part of the conditions of al-Qaeda in exchange for the release of Western hostages held by the six, where he requested the release of 20 detainees from the nationalities of his followers came from the Algerian, Moroccan and Mauritanian.  According to the same source for the''News''that *the Algerian authorities have sent a few days ago, additional security elements from the Special Force of the Directorate of Information and Security, to Mali, Mauritania, Niger, within the action plan to strengthen security in the Sahel countries embassies. *  The official declined to a security source, the link between this action and the forthcoming presidential elections.  The elements are known for their high combat efficiency, and trained to respond to the hijacking of aircraft, in the embassies of Algeria states: Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso....


----------



## Edward Campbell (22 Apr 2009)

Good news!

I'll really believe it when I see Mr. Fowler, back here in Ottawa, at the next CIPS event.


----------



## The Bread Guy (22 Apr 2009)

Confirmed by a Mali regional government official speaking to the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation:


> "Four of the six hostages have just been liberated – two Canadian diplomats, a German woman and a Swiss woman," said a security source at Gao on Wednesday.



Safe travels home, all!


----------



## dapaterson (22 Apr 2009)

... hopefully his flight home won't be routed through Montego Bay...


----------



## The Bread Guy (22 Apr 2009)

This, from the UN News Centre:


> Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the release of his Special Envoy for Niger, Robert Fowler, and three others who had been abducted in recent months in West Africa.
> 
> Mr. Fowler and his aide Louis Guay, both from Canada, had gone missing while driving near the West African country’s capital Niamey in mid-December 2008.
> 
> ...



Scan of statement attached in case links don't work


----------



## Old Sweat (23 Apr 2009)

And the speculation begins. At about 1753 today on CTV Newsnet Craig Oliver, who is a self-admitted close friend of Bob Fowler, while qualifying his remarks that no one in Ottawa would confirm it, claimed that JTF2 were all over the area where the release took place.

Mind you, I have it from a very reliable source that 22 SAS have a bulletin board on which they post all the wild press clippings about their exploits, real and imagined. The ski team might have an addition to theirs, if they do the same.


----------



## leroi (23 Apr 2009)

Old Sweat, I found this article that 'mentions' but minimizes JTF2 involvment. I suspect they played a much larger role: 

Al Qaeda 'Abused' Canadians

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/622994

Good news that they're safe; hope they'll be okay ...


----------



## GAP (24 Apr 2009)

Operation Diplomat
How Canada mounted the most complex rescue mission in its history to free Robert Fowler and Louis Guay from the clutches of al-Qaeda 
COLIN FREEZE From Friday's Globe and Mail April 24, 2009 at 2:00 AM EDT
Article Link

A rotating team of three dozen Canadians worked tirelessly in West Africa over the past four months to secure freedom for two Canadian diplomats, sources say. Drawn from the ranks of the foreign service, Mounties, spies and other agencies, they ran the most sophisticated rescue operation Canada has ever known.

Using the wizardry of modern surveillance, calling in favours and exerting pressure on African governments, the team considered every option, up to and including a military raid.

Robert Fowler, a distinguished Canadian civil servant and a former ambassador to the United Nations, and his colleague Louis Guay, also a senior diplomat, were captured on a desert road in eastern Niger just before Christmas. Today, the two men are expected to fly out of Bamako, Mali, on their way to be reunited with their families.

While the full story of the mission may never be known, it's clear the stakes for the rescue were high. 

To add to the complexities, The Globe and Mail understands, there was suspicion that people in Niger had tipped a criminal gang to the Canadians' travel plans. When the UN jeep was stopped at gunpoint, the kidnappers knew they had prized assets.

The hostages were “traded up” at least twice, sources say, before ending up in the hands of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, a group that emerged from the civil war in Algeria. The ransom demand that came to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's attention included the freeing of AQIM members imprisoned in neighbouring Mauritania.

“The longer it went on, the more it seemed likely that there might be a positive resolution, because clearly they had value to whoever was holding them. Whether it was political or financial, they had value,” said Gerald Ohlsen, a retired senior diplomat and long-time colleague of the captured men. “There were clearly an awful lot of people involved in the negotiations.”

Geography, intergovernmental relations and quality of intelligence all factor into decisions made by Ottawa in terms of what can be done. Each kidnapping is different and officials stress that the fact that the targets were two former ranking diplomats was not material to the scale of the response.

The first challenge for Canada was found in the vehicles carrying the hostages. Cellphones the Canadians had been carrying were left behind, sources say, indicating the kidnappers were aware signals intelligence could be used to triangulate a phone position.

The Canadian military, Mounties and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service were mobilized. A rich contributor to the Malian infrastructure over the years, Canada has forged close relations with the government. This gave the rescue team a considerable advantage, allowing for relatively easy transfer of Canadians in and out of the sovereign country.
More on link


----------



## The Bread Guy (27 Apr 2009)

More grist for the mill, if you're inclined to believe AQ in the the Islamic Maghreb's latest statement (original in Arabic here, Google English translation here, .zip file attached to this post of .pdf Arabic poster if you don't want to link to a terrorist web page).


> .... We declare in this statement of the public opinion that was only the praise of God and *the release of four prisoners of our fighters in exchange for the release of four of the abductees to the organization*, namely: Canadians (Robert Fuller and Lewis Guy), German (marianne petzold), and Swiss (gabriella burco greiner) ....



Scarier part, though, for those still held....


> .... Therefore we call on Britain's release of Sheikh Abu Qatada the Palestinian Madhloum conservation of him, compared to its national release of the British and Nmhlha *period of twenty days from the issuance of this statement, and the end of the period, the British hostage executed* Mujahideen did not find that in response to the demand, due notice ....


----------



## The Bread Guy (30 Apr 2009)

This from CanWest News Service:


> .... Neither has spoken publicly of their ordeal, but, now that they are back and appear to be at least physically well, though slimmer, questions are being asked about the diplomatic cost to Canada.
> 
> An early shot across the bow came Wednesday from Algeria, which says it will assess the implications of the reported release from a Malian jail of four members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a faction of which held the Canadians.
> (....)
> ...


_More on link_


----------



## leroi (8 Sep 2009)

Part one airing tonight and part two airing Wednesday night on The National:  Living with al-Qaeda: the Robert Fowler Story

http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/internationalus/living_with_alqaeda_the_robert_1.html



Kidnapping Stemmed From Inside Leak, Diplomat Tells CBC

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Qaeda+kidnapping+stemmed+from+inside+leak+diplomat/1972236/story.html

(Posted in accordance with the _Fair Dealing_ provision (29) of the _Copyright Act.)_
Ottawa Citizen: September 8, 2009

A Canadian diplomat who was kidnapped and held captive for four months in Niger has told the CBC he believes his al-Qaida captors were tipped off prior to his abduction.


In a CBC interview, Fowler said the heavily armed captors seemed "unsurprised" when he made them aware of his identity and position with the United Nations. "I know somebody shopped me," Fowler said in the CBC interview. A spokesman for the UN bristled Tuesday at the suggestion one of its operatives tipped the kidnappers to the Fowler party's itinerary, and effectively called on its former Niger envoy to produce any evidence suggesting otherwise.


"We have no information to indicate a leak from our side," said Farhan Haq, spokesman for the UN in New York. "Obviously, any such indication would be of serious concern. If anyone has any information, we would appreciate that they share it with us, so that we can look into it thoroughly."


Fowler was a UN special envoy to Niger on Dec. 14, 2008, when the vehicle he and another Canadian UN diplomat, Louis Guay, were travelling in was approached by a group of militants. With their personal effects left behind in their abandoned vehicle, Fowler and Guay were held for 130 days and were eventually released on April 22. He told the CBC that he marked each day of captivity with a thorn scratch on his belt. Fowler, who was part of a group trying to iron out a battle over resources between local government and rebel groups by trying to establish an agreement over royalties, told CBC that there was a lot of opposition to his mission. Fowler was on the job for five months before the kidnapping took place.


He told CBC that during his second trip as special envoy the Niger government seemed "offended" that the UN would dispatch an envoy to the area. Speculation soon arose while he was still in captivity that there may have been government involvement. The area where Fowler's group — which was not travelling with a security detail — was kidnapped was considered safe by UN standards, he said, telling the CBC that it was a common area for diplomats to hold picnics.​


----------



## The Bread Guy (10 Sep 2009)

This, from the _Globe & Mail_:


> Canada wants to bring the al-Qaeda militants accused of kidnapping Robert Fowler and Louis Guay out of Africa and into Canadian courts.
> 
> The test case would showcase the long arm of Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act.
> 
> ...


----------



## old medic (10 Oct 2009)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091010/qaeda_report_091010/20091010?hub=Canada

Al Qaeda members freed in return for diplomats: report
By: The Canadian Press
Sat. Oct. 10 2009



> TORONTO — Four al Qaeda members, including a bomb-maker, were released from prison in the African country of Mali in exchange for the freedom of two Canadian diplomats this spring, a newspaper reported Saturday.
> 
> The diplomats, Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, were kidnapped in Niger last December and held for more than four months by an al Qaeda offshoot, known al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM.
> 
> ...


----------



## The Bread Guy (11 Oct 2009)

.... here:


> Four terrorists, including a bomb-maker, were released from prison in the African nation of Mali in exchange for the freedom this year of Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, high-ranking government sources in Mali have confirmed.
> 
> The released prisoners were members of al-Qaeda’s increasingly powerful branch in the Sahara region of northern and western Africa. Two of them had been arrested in the northern Mali desert town of Gao last year after an accidental explosion while they were manufacturing a bomb, the sources say.
> 
> ...



_More on link_


----------



## Edward Campbell (12 Oct 2009)

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _Globe and Mail_ is more about *how* Mr. Fowler’s release was effected:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/the-shadowy-negotiator-who-freed-fowler-and-guay/article1320522/


> The shadowy negotiator who freed Fowler and Guay
> *He’s Mali’s go-to man for haggling with terrorists and he brokered the deal that set two Canadians free*
> 
> Geoffrey York
> ...




It’s hard to know what to make of sorts of these fellows except they are, at least they were, ubiquitous in North Africa and the Middle East – they are _”locals”_ who have _”connections”_ with those who do their _”business”_ on the fringes of society and outside of society’s norms. Baba Ould Sheik was paid, that ought to be enough.


----------



## Edward Campbell (14 Oct 2009)

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s _Globe and Mail_ is more on _al Qaeda in Maghreb_:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/diplomat-robert-fowlers-kidnapper-has-powerful-terrorist-links/article1322382/


> Diplomat Robert Fowler's kidnapper has powerful terrorist links
> *Ten months after the kidnapping, there are reports that Algeria is offering Mokhtar Belmokhtar an amnesty*
> 
> Geoffrey York
> ...




I wish to reiterate my objection, as a matter of practicality, to spending huge sums of money on _bringing Belmokhtar to justice._ There is nothing to be gained by prosecuting him in any open court. The better options are:

•	Capture him and _milk_ him for information and then use that information to *steal* al Qaeda’s money (and the money of other, similar groups) and to assassinate al Qaeda’s members (and the members of other, similar groups; or

•	Kill him – extra legally – _pour encourager les autres_.

This is work for a secret _intelligence_ _operations_ service, not for law enforcement.


----------



## Blackadder1916 (14 Oct 2009)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/the-shadowy-negotiator-who-freed-fowler-and-guay/article1320522/
> 
> It’s hard to know what to make of sorts of these fellows except they are, at least they were, ubiquitous in North Africa and the Middle East – they are _”locals”_ who have _”connections”_ with those who do their _”business”_ on the fringes of society and outside of society’s norms. *Baba Ould Sheik was paid, that ought to be enough*.



And that is one of the shortcomings with the manner in which Canadian officials conduct business in the third world.

While it can be taken as a given that (Ali) Baba (and his forty thieves) 'wet his beak' somewhere along the line from the ransom paid, it is also very conceiveable that he didn't receive a "gesture" from the Canadian government.  It is understandable why the Canadian government wants to distance itself from the payment of the ransom and release of prisoners in exchange for Fowler and Guay, but "losing face" should not be associated solely with oriental business practices.  Showing proper "respect" is equally important when doing business in Africa (as well as in the rest of the world).

You may know for a fact that an intermediary will receive a commission from the other party in a transaction; you may be certain that he will skim off the top anytime cash changes hands; however, you should not assume that any bribes you paid are being divided among underlings or other parties (except maybe a taste to the one who suggested it).  If you sit at the table and are involved in ordering the meal then you have to pay a "pourboire" to the one who brings it.  Though (if judged by some government scandals) it may seem easy to (temporarily) hide under the table payments, Canadian government rules do not really condone "baksheesh" and our representatives abroad are not noted for being free and easy with cash.

Mali will probably receive some future "official" consideration for their assistance in this matter, the government officials involved will take their usual cut, though that is unlikely to include anything for Baba Ould Sheik. The article noted that he has been the negotiator of choice for most hostage takings for several years.  While he has mostly remained in the shadows till now, previous hostage takings in the region have not involved as high a profile individual as Fowler.  Maybe, like most "professionals", Baba just wants recognition for his skill (of course, he probably wants more money too, like most professionals).  In the custom of that region, if Canadian officials had any direct contact with him and had even "suggested" that his expenses would be taken care of, then he would be correct in his assumption that he should receive that "respect" direct from Canada.


----------



## Edward Campbell (14 Oct 2009)

Your points are very well taken. I was thinking of the political embarrassment in Canada when, inevitably, any _"thanks"_ we might offer would become public.


----------



## Bruce Monkhouse (14 Oct 2009)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> I wish to reiterate my objection, as a matter of practicality, to spending huge sums of money on _bringing Belmokhtar to justice._ There is nothing to be gained by prosecuting him in any open court. The better options are:
> 
> •	Capture him and _milk_ him for information and then use that information to *steal* al Qaeda’s money (and the money of other, similar groups) and to assassinate al Qaeda’s members (and the members of other, similar groups; or
> 
> ...



Actually we have a whole list of Canadian gang figures who need this kind of justice.  If not, in a few years, you will be able to substitute Canada for Africa in all these newspaper clippings......


----------



## Blackadder1916 (14 Oct 2009)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> Your points are very well taken. I was thinking of the political embarrassment in Canada when, inevitably, any _"thanks"_ we might offer would become public.



Seen.

And that is why many representatives in Africa use "consultants".  It is taken as a matter of fact that the consultant's "fee" includes any "minor expenses" that he may be required to distribute.  The contract does not usually include any wording that lists what (or what not) may be "expenses"; such clauses generally being able to be used as evidence should such practices be contrary to the legislation of a representative's (or consultant's) country.  Also, it is assumed that if a party to a negotiation directly mentions to another individual "reimbursement of expenses", then the one mentioning it becomes responsible for those costs, not the consultant; they are usually very knowledgeable about the local rates for bribes tariffs, they don't want the naive and stupid cutting into their profit margin. Though there is much of a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" to this cut-out process, that's how it works.


----------



## The Bread Guy (14 Oct 2009)

I can't help but think of "Yes Prime Minister" and their euphemisms for such "thanks"


> 1. Below £100,000
> - Retainers
> - Personal donations
> - Special discounts
> ...


Great discussion, BTW...

_- edited to fix spelling errors -_


----------



## Edward Campbell (14 Oct 2009)

Bruce Monkhouse said:
			
		

> Actually we have a whole list of Canadian gang figures who need this kind of justice.  If not, in a few years, you will be able to substitute Canada for Africa in all these newspaper clippings......




I think my conscience might be a bit too delicate to advocate _extra legal_ killings in Canada.

Although I advocate doing away with the legal requirement to extend full *Charter Rights* to everyone "in Canada" I think everyone, even criminals and terrorists, ought to _enjoy_ the generally accepted fundamental human rights - including the right not be arbitrarily executed - while they are here.


----------



## dapaterson (14 Oct 2009)

Bruce Monkhouse said:
			
		

> Actually we have a whole list of Canadian gang figures who need this kind of justice.  If not, in a few years, you will be able to substitute Canada for Africa in all these newspaper clippings......



Yes, but Toronto Police Services is well armed...



> Beating up drug dealers and stealing their money. Shaking down bar owners for protection money. Extortion, obstructing justice, assault, theft, perjury, corrupt practices. The allegations that were levelled against a small but influential group of Toronto police officers were stunning in their breadth.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/torontopolice/#

Or even the head of their union:



> In 2004 McCormack was charged with corruption and discreditable conduct under the Police Act because of his alleged involvement with a drug-addicted used-car salesman alleged to have links to organized crime.
> 
> Those charges were dropped.
> 
> In September he was found guilty of insubordination for the improper use of the police database.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/torontopolice/#


----------



## George Wallace (6 Feb 2011)

An interesting twist to this story.  

Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act:



> Ransom paid for Canadian diplomats: leaked
> 
> Ransom paid for Canadian diplomats: leaked cable
> 
> ...


----------



## Rifleman62 (6 Feb 2011)

The article is implying the dirty, rotten, mean, lying Harper government paid the ransom. The leaked US cable stated a ransom was paid, not by who. May be the UN paid it.


----------



## Edward Campbell (24 Sep 2011)

More on the ransom in this article, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the _Globe and Mail_, based on a _Wikiliaks_ source:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canada-paid-ransom-to-free-envoys-wikileaks-cables-show/article2178811/


> Canada paid ransom to free envoys, Wikileaks cables show
> 
> COLIN FREEZE
> From Saturday's Globe and Mail
> ...




The links to the Government of Canada, itself, are tenuous. While I, personally, am very pleased that Mr. Fowler made it home safely - I hold him in high regard - I remain convinced that ransoms must not be paid.


----------



## Edward Campbell (2 Nov 2011)

The _Globe and Mail_ is running a four part series on Bob Fowler's book, "A Season in Hell," which begins today with this headline:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/niger-officials-likely-set-him-up-for-kidnapping-fowler-believes/article2222039/


> Niger officials likely set him up for kidnapping, Fowler believes



Mr. Fowler suggests that _officials in Niger likely set him up to be kidnapped when he was a special UN envoy in that country by passing his itinerary to a terrorist faction known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)._ Mr. Fowler writes that _he suspects the reason was to stop_ “the interference of a pesky foreigner” _in that country’s local politics._

More on the link.


----------



## The Bread Guy (25 Jan 2012)

A bump to share a link to a BBC podcast where Fowler is interviewed:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/outlook/outlook_20120123-1532a.mp3
Fowler on his kidnappers/AQ:  "It's all about religion.  I think among 'securocrats', there's somewhat of a debate about whether these guys are bandits flying an Islamic flag of convenience or rather, they are some kind of twisted, latter-day Robin Hoods doing a little banditry and kidnapping to fund their jihad.  I think a lot of people would like to believe it's the former, but I know it's the second."


----------



## old medic (29 May 2013)

Diplomat Fowler freed in 2009 for about $1M, al-Qaida docs reveal

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/3241221-diplomat-fowler-freed-in-2009-for-about-1m-al-qaida-docs-reveal/
29 May 2013





> An al-Qaida letter obtained by The Associated Press suggests about $1 million was paid for the release of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler in Niger four years ago.
> 
> Fowler, the highest-ranking UN official in Niger, and his colleague Louis Guay, were kidnapped and held for four months before being released in April 2009.
> 
> ...


----------



## GAP (29 May 2013)

Maybe they should have hedged their bets.  :


----------



## Kirkhill (29 May 2013)

> Among other things, the letter reveals, the leaders of al-Qaida's North African branch criticized Belmoktar for failing to answer his phone when they called, failed to turn in expense reports, ignored meetings and refused to carry out orders.



So.... I'm guessing he got an Incomplete/Counselling on his annual Performance Evaluation Report?

Who manages Al Qaida's HR department?


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## The Bread Guy (29 May 2013)

old medic said:
			
		

> Diplomat Fowler freed in 2009 for about $1M, al-Qaida docs reveal
> 
> http://www.thespec.com/news-story/3241221-diplomat-fowler-freed-in-2009-for-about-1m-al-qaida-docs-reveal/
> 29 May 2013


More here ....


> .... First and foremost, they quibble over the amount of money raised by the 2008 kidnapping of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, the highest-ranking United Nations official in Niger, and his colleague. Belmoktar’s men held both for four months, and in a book he later published, Fowler said he did not know if a ransom was paid.
> 
> The letter says they referred the case to al-Qaida central to force concessions in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, a plan stymied when Belmoktar struck his own deal for 700,000 euros (about $900,000) for both men. That’s far below the $3 million per hostage that European governments were normally paying, according to global intelligence unit Stratfor.
> 
> “Rather than walking alongside us in the plan we outlined, he managed the case as he liked,” they write indignantly. “Here we must ask, who handled this important abduction poorly? … Does it come from the unilateral behavior along the lines of our brother Abu Abbas, which produced a blatant inadequacy: Trading the weightiest case (Canadian diplomats!!) for the most meager price (700,000 euros)!!” ....


.... and in the attached English translation of the AQ letter in question.


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## The Bread Guy (15 Jun 2015)

Busted (one hopes)!


> The U.S military launched airstrikes Saturday targeting and likely killing an al-Qaida leader in eastern Libya who was responsible for the kidnapping of Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay in the northern African country of Niger in 2008.
> 
> The Libyan government said warplanes targeted and killed Mokhtar BelMokhtar and several others in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. A U.S. official said two F-15 fighter jets launched multiple 500-pound bombs in the attack. The official was not authorized to discuss the details of the attack publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.
> 
> U.S. officials said they are still assessing the results of the strike, but Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the military believes the strike was successful and hit the target ....


More media coverage here.


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## jollyjacktar (15 Jun 2015)

Ah, but we've heard of this sh1tbirds demise before, only to be disappointed.  I hope too that this time it's true.


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