Getting your player ready...
NIAMEY, Niger — A Tuareg rebel group claimed responsibility for the abduction of a U.N. envoy on the outskirts of Niger’s capital, saying Tuesday that the veteran Canadian diplomat was in good health.
But hours later, the group reversed course, posting a second statement signed by a different rebel leader that condemned the kidnapping of Robert Fowler and denied responsibility. It was unclear whether the contradictory statements indicated a rift in the Front for the Forces of Redress, or FFR, a rebel group comprised of ethnic Tuaregs, a nomadic people who inhabit the vast deserts that cross northern Africa.
