Canada sent investigators to Mali last week in an effort to trace two Canadian diplomats believed kidnapped in neighbouring Niger in December, Malian officials said Tuesday.
The Canadian delegation met local elders and officials in northern Mali during the visit, which the officials said ended on Monday.
"The delegation came to get information and ask for our help in the case of the disappearance of the two Canadian diplomats. We pledged our assistance to them," Mohamed Ag Issouf, a local elder who sat in on the meetings, told AFP
The diplomats, UN envoy to Niger Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, and their driver went missing in mid-December when returning from a visit to a gold mine operated by Canadian company Semafo, west of Niamey in Niger.
Their car was discovered on December 15 beside a road in an apparently trouble-free area close to the capital.
On Saturday, a Canadian newspaper citing an unnamed diplomat said there was evidence that Fowler was still alive.
"There has been evidence some days ago that he (Fowler) was alive," the UN Security Council diplomat was quoted as saying by the Ottawa Times, adding that the two other missing men may also be alive.
Canada's foreign ministry declined to comment on the reports.
Source: AFP American Edition
