(S) MALIAN OFFICIALS CONFIRM PRESENCE OF KIDNAPPED

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000954

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2018
TAGS: PTER PINR PINS ASEC ML
SUBJECT: (S) MALIAN OFFICIALS CONFIRM PRESENCE OF KIDNAPPED
UN ENVOY IN NORTHERN MALI

REF: A. NIAMEY 01166

B. BAMAKO 00888

Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1.(S) Malian National Assembly Deputy Ibrahim ag Mohamed
Assalah told the Embassy on December 21 that missing UN Envoy
Robert Fowler and fellow Canadian diplomat Louis Guay, who
disappeared in Niger on December 14 (Ref. A),were now in
northern Mali. Assalah said AQIM leader Bel Louar (aka
Moctar bel Moctar) was holding the two diplomats.

2.(S) A Tuareg from the town of Bourem in the region of Gao,
Assalah was an integral part of Mali's behind the scenes
strategy to secure the release of the two Austrian tourists
captured by AQIM in February 2008 and released in northern
Mali at the end of October (Ref. B). He returned a few days
ago from a trip to Tripoli to meet with Libyan leader Qadhafi
to discuss, among other issues, Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim
Bahanga (septel). Assalah told the Embassy he received a
call from the Malian presidency on Saturday, December 20,
asking if he could confirm a report that the two Canadian
diplomats were on Malian soil in the hands of AQIM. Assalah
subsequently contacted an individual he described as a member
of AQIM to confirm the Canadians' whereabouts. He relayed
this information to the Presidency - and perhaps President
Amadou Toumani Toure directly - mid-morning on Sunday,
December 21.

3.(S) Assalah said the presidency had asked his advice
regarding Mali's potential response to this new, and
increasingly serious, hostage situation. Assalah, however,
said Mali and Austria's failure to follow through on promises
delivered during the Austrian hostage negotiations had left
him feeling burned and had severely weakened his credibility
with the nomadic populations he mobilized to pressure AQIM
for the Austrians' release earlier this year.

4.(S) Assalah said he was particularly disappointed with the
Austrians. He accused Austria of failing to deliver on
promises for small development projects and wells for the
nomadic populations Assalah used to help win the Austrian
tourists' release. Assalah seemed particularly shocked by
the Austrians' rapid departure from Mali. "They didn't even
thank me," said Assalah of the Austrians. Assalah complained
that Anton Prohaska, the Austrian Ambassador dispatched to
Mali for the duration of the hostage crisis, disappeared
without a word or a forwarding address just days after the
Austrians were released, and that Austrian Foreign Minister
Ursula Plassnik, who traveled to Bamako to welcome the
released hostages and was apparently Assalah's only other
contact with Austria, left the government in early December.
"They just swept the whole thing under the rug," said Assalah
of the Austrians. He also noted that the Austrian government
had promised to fly him to Vienna for two weeks in order,
said Assalah, to give him some breathing space from those in
northern Mali hassling Assalah for compensation following the
hostages release.

5.(S) Assalah also faulted the Malian government. Upon his
return to Bamako, Assalah said he asked the Malian government
for help incorporating approximately a dozen northern youth
he encountered during his information campaign throughout
northern Mali into the Malian customs service. Assalah said
senior Malian officials - presumably either Internal Security
Minister Sadio Gassama or State Security Chief Mamy Coulibaly
- had promised to find positions for the youth by
mid-December. Last week, however, Assalah learned that the
youth would have to wait until mid-January at the earliest.
Assalah said several of the youth called him from northern
Mali while he was in Tripoli last week. Assalah said he was
forced to lie to the youth, telling them that the responsible
official within the Malian government was sick and likely
wouldn't be back in the office until January. After
explaining to the Embassy the various pressures he was under
as a result of his efforts to secure the release of the
Austrian tourists, Assalah said he needed to drop out of
sight for awhile, and once again lamented Austria's failure
to deliver on the promised trip to Vienna.

6.(S) Complicating matters further, Assalah said he did not
know whether AQIM would be susceptible to the same pressures
he and others brought to bear on the terrorist group earlier
this year via northern Mali nomadic communities since the
Austrians were held by Abdul Hamid and the two Canadians are
being held by Moctar bel Moctar.


BAMAKO 00000954 002 OF 002


7.(S) Assalah said he had no information on the whereabouts
of Ambassador Fowler and Guay's driver. Less than an hour
after meeting with Assalah, however, the Embassy received a
telephone call from Kader Bah, who is a close confidant of
Minister of Territorial Administration Kafougouna Kone and
President Toure. Bah told the Embassy that Malian
authorities now believed AQIM was holding Ambassador Fowler,
Guay, and their driver in north-eastern Mali.
MILOVANOVIC