Canadian, European hostages in good health

Two Canadian diplomats and four tourists kidnapped in Niger are in good health despite months in captivity, Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure told Canadian broadcaster CBC.

He also said some of the hostages' personal belongings had been handed over to them, CBC said Friday.

Toure said his country was working discreetly to win the release of the hostages, adding: "They came to Africa to bring peace. It is unacceptable that their freedom is taken away."

Robert Fowler, UN special envoy to Niger and his assistant Louis Gay, went missing on December 14 during a visit to a gold mine run by the Canadian company Semafo in Samira, west of the Niger capital Niamey.

In January four tourists -- a Swiss couple, a German woman in her 70s and a Briton -- were grabbed in the border zone between Mali and Niger as they were returning from a Tuareg cultural festival.

The North African branch of Al-Qaeda has claimed the kidnappings in an audio tape broadcast by the Arabic channel Al-Jazeera. A man described as "the main suspect" in the tourists' kidnapping was arrested Tuesday in northern Mali.

Last month the driver of the two Canadian diplomats was freed in Mali, the Malian defense ministry announced.

"Mali and Canada have become closer because of this hostage taking. We are working together diplomatically to find the best solution," Toure told CBC.

Initially the kidnappers had demanded the release of two of its Mauritanian members held in Mali. However, Malian authorities said one of the men has since been killed in a car accident.