A Tuareg rebel group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two Canadians, including a top UN envoy, who disappeared in Niger.
The Restoration Forces Front (FFR) said in a message on its website it had seized Robert Fowler, the UN envoy for Niger, and three other people.
A message signed by FFR ”War Commissioner” Rhissa Ag Boula, a Tuareg rebel leader from the 1990s, said Fowler ”is in good health and will soon be transferred to a safe place and handed over to other colleagues who will look after him”.
Fowler (64) disappeared late on Sunday about 40km from the Niger capital, Niamey, and he was with another Canadian diplomat, Louis Guay. Both men work for the United Nations.
The FFR is a splinter group of the Tuareg rebellion Movement of Niger People for Justice (MNJ). The splinter group, which appeared at the end of May, is headed by Mohamed Awtchiki Kriska.
The Canadian government said Monday it was aware that two Canadian diplomats working for the UN were missing in Niger.
”At this point we can confirm that ambassador Robert Fowler, the special envoy of the secretary general of the United Nations to Niger and Louis Guay, a Canadian diplomat working for the UN in support of ambassador Fowler, have been reported missing,” the Foreign Affairs Department said.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon had spoken to senior UN officials and is ”following the situation closely”, a statement added.
Canadian officials in Niger and in regional offices ”are actively engaged with local and UN officials and are pursuing all appropriate measures at this time”.
Niger’s government said on Monday that two people, including a driver, travelling in a UN Development Programme vehicle had gone missing. — Sapa-AFP