Canadian diplomat says West Africa terror threat has grown since his capture

Robert Fowler says it would take 'a very large and serious effort to eradicate' Islamic terrorism groups in West Africa, which U.S. military officials warn could attack America.

A Canadian diplomat who was held captive by al-Qaida terrorists in the Sahara Desert for 130 days says Canada’s promised boost to defence should include commitments to combatting the growing Islamic terrorism threat in Africa — a threat he says isn’t getting the attention it deserves.

Robert Fowler says it would take “a very large and serious effort to eradicate” the groups that have taken root in West Africa’s Sahel region — particularly Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali — and that U.S. military officials say are fighting to gain access to the western coast, which would increase their ability to attack North America.

“There’s nothing we can say that will dissuade those people from doing what they’re doing — I certainly learned that in the sand,” he told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.

“They are deeply, absolutely committed and are evidently prepared to die in that commitment. So it would take a very large and serious effort to eradicate them, because they won’t be convinced not to do it.”

Fowler, the longest-serving Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and an adviser to three former prime ministers, was captured by militants with the al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorist group in December 2008 while serving as a UN special envoy to Niger.

He was released along with other Western captives the following April.

Since then, the presence of AQIM and other Islamic militant groups in the Sahel region has only grown, carrying out attacks against civilians while claiming wide swaths of territory.

Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali are currently ruled by military juntas who took power through coups in the last two years, with varying degrees of Islamic influence.