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Fowler's Niger Companion Guay Active in Mining,
UN Stonewalls on Their Mission
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
December 18 -- With the UN still
refusing to describe what its putative envoy to Niger Robert
Fowler was doing
last Saturday visiting a Canadian-owned gold mine with Canadian
government official
Louis Guay and what's described as a UN Development Program driver
before they
disappeared, it has emerged that Guay has been in and out of commercial
mining
for years.
During his diplomatic
career, Guay took two "leaves
of absence" and remained in-country following diplomatic assignments
with
Canada's Dept of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, one in
Cameroon for a
Montreal-based construction company called Sofati, and the other in the
Dominican
Republic with a Vancouver-based gold mining company seemingly called
Placer
Dome. See, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6634/is_/ai_n26492327 and
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-77745837.html.
The
Dominican
Republic gold project was signed between that Government and Placer
Dome in
July 2001. Guay's assignment with Placer Dome from 1996-1999 was, in
the words
of his own biography to "pursue the privatization of a major gold
deposit" at the mine called Pueblo Viejo. This company, Placer
Dome,
has been harshly criticized by both environmental groups (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcopper_Mining_Disaster and
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/186.html)
and labor
groups.
Questions
continue
to mount about what Fowler and Guay were doing when they were
kidnapped. They
were in a region of Niger not know for Tuareg. They did not have UN
security
with them, not any Nigerois protocol officer. In fact, a Niger
official has been
quoted that Fowler was on "personal business."
Niger Ministry of Mining, signing, Fowler /
Guay mystery still unsolved
Thursday
at the UN,
Inner City Press asked for simple answers, without satisfaction --
Inner City Press: Mr. Fowler,
the United Nations official --
can you state whether he was on United Nations business and whether his
travel
documents were approved here? And
whether the man travelling with him was also a United Nations staffer
or “when
actually employed” person? And the last
thing: It was reported that he was
visiting Canadian-owned mines in Southern Niger. What
could be the reason for that? Is that the
case?
Deputy Spokesperson Okabe: I
know you have a lot of questions, but, for
the moment, all I can tell you is that the Niger authorities are
looking into
the matter and we appreciate their efforts and we are working with them. I can confirm to you that Mr. Fowler, as
Special
Envoy for Niger, was on official mission.
Question: Is there anything
unusual about that
visit? The way it was arranged or the
way it was scheduled?
Spokesperson: At this point,
we’ve told you everything that
we can.
Question: I was wondering --
because he’s been missing
for what, five days now -- can you describe what kind of communication
there’s
been between the Secretary-General and the Government or other entities
in
Niger.
Spokesperson: Well, as you
recall, the Secretary-General did
express his great concern and he is doing his best to obviously make
sure there
is a positive outcome to this situation.
Question: Has he been speaking
to them directly.
Spokesperson: Let me get you the
phone log. Obviously he has been talking
to anybody who
can help in this situation.
Inner City Press: I’d just like
one follow-up. The Voice of
America has quoted Niger
Government officials that Fowler was on private business. That’s why I’m asking you.
Spokesperson: He was on official
mission.
Inner City Press: Can we have a
description of what he was
doing? Is that possible?
Spokesperson: At this
moment, given the security
implications of this situation, I think we will leave it at that for
now.
As
questions about the purpose of the trip mounting, it is not clear that
the UN's
stonewalling protects Fowler, and ultimately even itself.
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