Two Canadian diplomats abducted in western Africa were released Wednesday after four months in the hands of kidnappers claiming to be al-Qaeda militants, according to local sources and a family friend.
Robert Fowler and Louis Guay had been snatched from their car while they were on a United Nations mission to Niger last December and were released in nearby Mali.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed the news Wednesday evening at a news conference in Ottawa. “It's a long day, but they're never too long when they end well,” he said.
Mr. Harper said the two men will soon be in the care of Canadian authorities. They are currently with officials from the government of Mali.
“I cannot imagine the ordeal they have suffered in recent weeks,” he said.
He said the government of Canada does not pay ransom or release prisoners in negotiations of this type.
Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc, whose father is related to the Fowler family, said he has spoken to the Fowlers, who hope to reunite with the former high-level bureaucrat in a few days.
“I have spoken to members of Bob's family...They are obviously very encouraged by the information that they've been given,” said Mr. Leblanc.
“Our understanding is that Bob is on his way to Bamako, Mali, and obviously until the Canadian government physically sees him, until they're able to be in personal contact with Bob, they're not going to confirm. But the family is certainly very enthusiastic about the news that they've been given and I know that they're looking forward to hopefully reuniting with Bob in the coming days.”
The two diplomats were released hundreds of kilometres from the scene of their abduction, in the northern part of Mali.
Also released with the two Canadians were two female tourists, one German and one Swiss. However, the two women's companions – the husband of the Swiss tourist and a Briton – were still held hostage.
Mr. Fowler, 64, is well-known throughout diplomatic Ottawa, had served in several senior bureaucratic roles and was Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 1995 to 2000. He also worked as an adviser to late prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
Mel Cappe, a former Clerk of the Privy Council who sat next to Mr. Fowler during weekly deputy minister meetings, said the fact that Mr. Fowler was trusted with senior advisory roles by both Tory and Liberal Prime Ministers speaks to Mr. Fowler's value as a public servant.
“I'm a big fan,” said Mr. Cappe, who is now president of the Institute for Research on Public Policy. The former top public servant said Mr. Fowler developed a reputation inside government as a man who could manage a crisis or a big project.
“He is a very astute player. There's something subtle about him and there's something like a bull in a china shop at the same time. It's a very interesting mélange, which is what makes him so effective I think.”
Sources said that, after travelling for several hours by land, the four liberated westerners arrived Wednesday night in Gao, in northeastern Mali, at the edge of the desert.
Witnesses said Mr. Fowler was in good health, but that Mr. Guay appeared to be more frail. However, neither appeared gravely affected after being detained for months in a region where day time temperatures soar to 43C.
Locals in the northern regions of Mali believed that a liberation might be close when, two days ago, an ambulance and a UN vehicle were seen heading into the northern desert border area. In past months, representatives from the Canadian government had visited the northern areas, quietly lobbying local community leaders, sources said.
That restless part of the region has become a base for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a radical Islamic organization with roots in Algeria and formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.
Members of communities in the north of the country, on whom AQIM relies for sanctuary, acted as intermediaries in the talks that led to Wednesday's release.
Northern Malian elders had insisted that the two Canadian diplomats be let go, along with the two female tourists.
The four European tourists had been kidnapped by armed men as they returned from a Tuareg cultural festival in northeastern Mali last January.
Last month, an Algerian newspaper reported that AQIM had demanded the release of 20 of its jailed members in return for the freedom of the six western hostages, including the two Canadians.
The fact that AQIM is still holding two tourists suggest they are being held as collateral until the group's demands are met.
Despite Wednesday's release, the mystery of the two hostage videos featuring Mr. Fowler has yet to be resolved.
The Canadian government has two videos, neither of which it has made public. The government has not commented on the contents of either.
In the second video, Mr. Fowler asks the Canadian government to “respond” to the demands of the kidnappers, according to a report from the Mali correspondent of Radio France Internationale.
The question is whether those demands were contained in the first video, which was made within a few days of the abduction of Mr. Fowler and Mr. Guay. Sources said the Canadians declined to show the earlier video to United Nations security officials, whose driver was abducted along with Mr. Fowler and Mr. Guay.
Mr. Leblanc said the information he and the family have came from the governments of Mali and Burkina Faso and the Canadian department of foreign affairs.
“[They] have been extremely helpful with the Fowler family from the beginning of this very difficult period in December,” said Mr. Leblanc, whose father, Romeo, is married to Mr. Fowler's sister, Diana. Romeo LeBlanc is a former Liberal cabinet minister and previously served as Canada's Governor General.
