Released hostages Louis Guay, left, and Robert Fowler attend a reception, the day after their release, at the presidency in Bamako, Mali Thursday, April 23, 2009.
AP/HAROUNA TRAORE
Danger and desperation in the Sahara: The Robert Fowler hostage crisis
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Photo from a video made by the al-Qaeda terrorists who kept Robert Fowler and Louis Guay in captivity for 130 days. The video, obtained by Mali-based journalist Serge Daniel, was made on Feb. 3, 2009 in a tent in the Sahara desert in northern Mali. Mr. Fowler is sitting in the middle of the front row, with Mr. Guay on the right. On the left is their United Nations driver from Niger, who was released earlier than the Canadians. Behind them are four members of al-Qaeda carrying machine guns. The kidnapper right behind Mr. Fowler is carrying a sword.
Robert Fowler was a long-serving Canadian diplomat who, as the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Niger, was travelling with his aide Louis Guay in the West African country in December 2008. His mission: start a peace process in the fight between Tuareg rebels and the government of Niger.
But the region was also witnessing the growing influence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Mr. Fowler's mission came to a sudden end on December 14, 2008, when he was taken hostage.
The above photograph of an al-Qaeda video shows the Canadian hostages, their United Nations driver, Soumana Moukaila. One of the captors behind Mr. Fowler is gripping a sword. This "proof-of-life" video was made on Day 52 of their 130 days in captivity.
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Boys on donkey carts pass the location where the UN vehicle that had been carrying envoys Robert Fowler and Louis Guay was found, about 35 kilometres west of Niger's capital, Niamey.— Erin Conway-Smith for The Globe and Mail
On Dec. 14, 2008, Canadian diplomat and UN envoy Richard Fowler, his aide Louis Guay, and their driver Soumana Moukaila set out from their hotel in the capital of Niger. Their destination: a gold mine to study how revenues could be used to help facilitate a peace deal between the government and Tuareg rebels.
Their UN vehicle was found on this stretch of road about 35 kilometres west of Niger's capital, Niamey.
Initial reports blamed Tuareg rebels for the kidnapping. However, that was discounted by information that al-Qaeda's wing in North Africa had claimed responsibility.
There were no security officials travelling with the UN envoy along the N1 highway close to the Niger-Mali border. It was a move Mr. Fowler defended, arguing that a UN report had deemed the area safe.
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Baba Ould Sheik, the shadowy negotiator of the deal that bought the freedom of Robert Fowler and Louis Guay from the hands of al-Qaeda.
The Canadian envoys and their driver were smuggled from Niger to Mali, where the government sought the help of one of the most experienced, and mysterious, negotiators. Baba Ould Sheik has helped release numerous hostages since 2003, when he negotiated the release of 14 European hostages.
“If Baba Ould Sheik is involved, there will be a happy ending,” one government official said. “He is a very efficient man.”
The Globe and Mail's Geoffrey York travelled to Bamako, Mali, in 2009 to meet the shadowy negotiator credited with the release of the Canadian envoys and their driver. It was his first public interview with a journalist.
Mr. Ould Sheik described travelling in the fierce heat of the Sahara, the difficulty of contacting the terrorists who never kept the same satellite phone number for long, and waiting three or four days in the desert for directions from the terrorists about where to go.
The negotiator described begging the kidnappers to accept his offer. “Sometimes I had to explain to them that what they wanted was not possible,” he told the Globe's Geoffrey York. What emerges is a portrait of a man who actually had a good relationship with the terrorists. Mr. Ould Sheik described the group's Algerian leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, as “not a bad man.”
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Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler, right, UN special envoy to Niger, and his assistant Louis Guay are pictured as they meet with Mali President Amadou Toumani after they were released along with two European tourists by al-Qaeda-linked captors after months as hostages, in Bamako on April 23, 2009. — HABIB KOUYATE/AFP/Getty Images
In April 2009, after 130 days in captivity, Mr. Fowler and Mr. Guay were released and appeared with Mali President Amadou Toumani in Bamako. Mr. Fowler later described moments during his captivity when he was not sure if he was going to live or die.
Al Qaeda had been responsible for gruesome beheadings of western captives. The videos were widely circulated within jihadi circles. Shortly after the release of the Canadian envoys a British hostage was beheaded in a separate incident involving al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
The UN driver, Soumana Mounkaila, had been released prior to the release of Mr. Fowler and Mr. Guay.
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks on April 22, 2009 during a press conference at the National Press Theatre, regarding the release of Canadian diplomats Robert Fowler and Louis Guay in Ottawa.— Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The Canadian government denied paying any ransom. But shortly after the release of the Canadian envoys, there was widespread speculation about the role of various countries.
Secret U.S. State Department cables that surfaced on WikiLeaks revealed that U.S. diplomats privately griped that Canada, Mali, and Burkina Faso paid into a ransom deal, even though all the countries publicly deny doing this. Canadian government documents released under the Access to Information Act indicate Ottawa also thanked Moammar Gadhafi's Libya the loan of intelligence agents who assisted in resolving the hostage crisis.
In 2009, The Globe and Mail investigation documented how Malian government released four al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb prisoners, including a bomb-maker, as part of the deal. The kidnappers were also paid several million dollars in cash. Where did the money come from? The answer remains unclear.
