TORONTO – Former Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler says he believes someone in the government of Niger or possibly with the United Nations betrayed him to al-Qaida.
Fowler tells CBC’s “The National” in a story to be broadcast Monday and Tuesday evenings that someone “shopped” him to his captors.
The special UN envoy to Niger and his aide Louise Guay spent four months in captivity after they were taken at gunpoint last December while driving northwest of the capital.
In a story about the interview published on CBC’s website, the now retired diplomat blames a possible leak of his whereabouts from someone in the Niger government or perhaps an al-Qaida sympathizer with the UN office in West Africa or New York.
Only the government and the UN knew his itinerary.
He says Niger “hated” the mission aimed at resolving a dispute between rebels and the government over resource royalties.
