Two Canadian Diplomats, Driver Missing In Niger; Kidnapping Feared

December 16, 2008 5:07 a.m. EST

Niamey, Niger (AHN) - A UN special envoy for Niger, his aide and their driver who have been missing since Sunday are feared to have been kidnapped in the West African country.

The abandoned car of Robert Fowler, 68, his aide Louis Guay, deputy director of the Sudan task force in Ottawa, and the unnamed driver was found Sunday by Niger authorities about 45 miles northeast of the capital Niamey, Canada's Foreign Affairs Department said Monday.

The search for the three continues as UN insiders suspect they have been kidnapped because authorities found their car's engine running, its lights were on and telephones and other belongings were left inside.

Fowler, the longest-serving Canadian ambassador to the UN, and Guay were headed Saturday toward an area called Samira, where a partly Canadian-owned gold mine is located. "He was going to meet with some governmental and non-governmental officials. He was just going about his regular work," UN spokesman Farharn Haq told Canada.com.

Niger's Minister of Communication Mohamed Ben Omar is also quoted as saying Fowler did not inform authorities or the UN office in Niger about his trip.