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NIAMEY: Niger's government said Monday veteran Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, the UN special envoy for Niger, had gone missing west of Niamey.
Fowler, 64, disappeared in the Karma area, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital, Minister of Communication Mohamed Ben Omar told AFP.
Fowler arrived Thurday in Niamey after he sought an official invitation to celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Niger gaining autonomy from France, in the western town of Tillaberi, Ben Omar said.
He was not in landlocked Niger - one of the world's poorest countries, and with a Tuareg rebellion in its northern region - on official business, the minister added.
"Without making a prior request for authorisation from the authorities," Fowler left the capital Saturday with two other people, including a driver, apparently heading to Samira, site of a gold mine that is part-Canadian owned.
Officials were told about his disappearance in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, when his vehicle was found in the vicinity of Karma town, Ben Omar said.
"Inside were found three telephones, a camera and a jacket," he said, adding that the vehicle had been followed out of Niamey by an unidentified vehicle registered in Togo.
"These disappearances surprise us," Ben Omar said, affirming that security forces have been deployed in the area to try to find Fowler, but regretting that he had not informed the authorities or the UN office in Niger of his trip.
Fowler - who was Canada's ambassador to the United Nations in 1995-2000 - has twice travelled to Niger on business.
Niger's foreign ministry said in a statement it was "very concerned" about Fowler's disappearance Sunday "at about 6:00 pm (1700 GMT)."
"Since then and in spite of a search by defence and security forces in cooperation with the UN system the ministry has been without news from Mr Fowler and his aides," the statement said, adding that he appeared to have been at Samira where a Canadian company is mining gold.
"For the moment the ministry does not know why he disappeared and the defence and security forces are actively searching for him."
The frontier region of Tillaberi is well away from the scene of fighting between Niger's armed forces and Tuareg rebels.
In New York, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said three persons who were travelling aboard a vehicle of the United Nations Development Programme in southwestern Niger Monday had been reported missing.
She told AFP that the vehicle was located 45 kilometres (28 miles) north of Niamey, when contact with the three occupants was lost.
Montas could give no details on the identity or the nationality of the three individuals.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said everything was being done to find Fowler and the two other missing persons.
"We are doing all our best efforts about his whereabouts. We are now mobilising all necessary information networks on this," he said.
The Canadian government confirmed Fowler had gone missing and that another one of the vehicle's occupants was also Canadian.
"We are aware of two Canadian citizens who've been reported missing in Niger and at this point we can confirm that ambassador Robert Fowler is one of those individuals reported missing," Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Monette told AFP.
Consular officials in contact with their families, and "Canadian officials in the capital of Niger as well as in regional offices are working with local and UN officials," she said. "They're following the situation very closely."
Fowler was Canada's longest serving ambassador to the United Nations before his appointment as ambassador to Italy (2000-2006).
He was previously deputy minister of Canada's National Defense department and advised three Canadian prime ministers on foreign policy, including Pierre Trudeau.
More recently, he acted as personal representative for Africa of Canada's last three leaders, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, before being named UN special envoy to Niger by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in July.
A diplomatic source in Bamako said last summer that Fowler was "surveying the ground for the UN about the Taureg rebellion in Niger," and had met representatives of Taureg rebels in Europe.
The Taureg rebels said Monday only that they had heard of Fowler's disappearance.
The authorities in Niger refuse to negotiate with the Taureg rebels, which they consider to be common criminals and drug traffickers.
- AFP/yb
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