Missing In Niger

Two Canadian diplomats, both Africa-philes, are missing, presumed to have been abducted. No one has yet come forward to claim responsibility. They had set out on a UN mission in Niger, had visited a Canadian mining operation in the country, and were on the return journey with their Nigerian driver, when they simply disappeared, their vehicle left on the road.

Robert Fowler and Louis Guay are somewhere out there. Missing since December 14, some guesses have been hazarded, but no offers to release them for ransom have come forward. There is a distinct veil of silence over their abduction. Robert Fowler has had a long and distinguished career with Canada's foreign service.

He served as Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations and was more currently serving as a United Nations special envoy to Niger. Mr. Guay accompanied Mr. Fowler on this covert trip to Africa, as an assistant, himself a foreign service officer of distinction and long standing, also serving in Africa.

Nigerian journalists have hazarded the opinion that their own government might be responsible for the disappearance based on the apprehension that the government was not anxious to have them in the country, but the government strenuously denies this. Instead pointing to "terrorist groups" being responsible for their disappearance.

"At this time, investigators continue to explore all leads, including the possibility they were lifted so that they can be delivered as hostages to armed Islamist groups," according to a senior Niger intelligence official. Al-Qaeda in the Islamist Maghreb is being considered as the kidnapping source. But no ransom demands have been received.

Surmise as they may, the Canadian government has no idea who might be responsible. They have consulted with an expert in security and counter-terrorism who is advising on the possible route to take to express a willingness to negotiate with the men's abductors by releasing an oblique message, hoping it will reach the right sources.

One can only wonder whether the abduction might have been motivated by revenge. It was, after all, a report by Robert Fowler when he was Canada's ambassador to the UN that illuminated information on trade in illicitly mined diamonds. Those engaged in trafficking conflict diamonds would have no dear regard for the man. He may be seen to have single-handedly been responsible for the ban on the export of Sierra Leonean diamonds.

Not that his intervention entirely checked the flow of those illicit diamonds, since they continued to flow into the diamond-cutting enterprises in Antwerp through Liberia, causing the European Union to halt foreign aid to the country because of Charles Taylor's support of Angolan UNITA rebels and the RUF rebel group.