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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Qaeda video claims foreign abductions in Niger |
| 2009-02-19 |
| (AKI) - A message allegedly from Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay in Niger and the abduction of four European tourists in January on the border between Niger and Mali. "We are happy to announce to the Islamic nation that our mujahadeen have managed to carry out two operations in Niger," said the audio message purportedly from Al-Qaeda's North African branch. It was broadcast on Wednesday by Dubai-based Arabic satellite news channel Al-Arabiya. "The mujahadeen reserve the right to treat the hostages according to Islamic Sharia law," the audio message warned. Fowler is a Canadian diplomat and United Nations special envoy to Niger and Guay is the deputy director of the Sudan task force in the Canadian capital,Ottawa. They were abducted with their driver outside Niamey on 14 December while returning from a visit to a gold mine operated by a Canadian company. On 16 December a rebel group called the Front des Forces de Redressement claimed to have kidnapped Fowler, but a spokesperson later denied the claim. An undated video showing the diplomats were still alive was sent to the Malian authorities earlier this month. Their missing driver was not shown in the video. A Swiss couple, an elderly German woman and a British man were returning from a Tuareg cultural festival in Mali on 22 January when they were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen along the border of Mali and Niger. |
| Posted by:Fred |