by Robert Fowler
Columnist Robert
Fowler’s experiences in the al-Qaeda captivity are frightening as well as the
picture of how they work. He writes, “In December 2008, I was making my third
trip to Niger as the United Nations Special Envoy, attempting to broker a peace
between the government and Tuareg rebel factions in the north.
One Sunday, two weeks
before Christmas, my colleague, Louis Guay, and I were returning to the
capital, Niamey, in a UN vehicle when a truck passed us, slewed in front and
forced us to a stop.
Two AK47s were aimed
at the face of our driver, and within the blink on an eye all three of us were
torn from our seats and thrown into the back of their truck. The whole grab
took perhaps 40 seconds.
Thus began our 56-hour
descent into hell, a 1,000km off-road nightmare into the middle of the Sahara
desert. Twelve hours into that appalling journey, we stopped
for a couple of hours
rest.
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