Aid workers abducted in Iraq

CRISIS IN BAGHDAD Officials operate quietly to win release of 2 Canadians, 1 American, 1 Briton kidnapped at gunpoint

AMMAN— Canadian officials are working urgently beneath a diplomatic shroud today to win the release of two Canadian aid workers among a team of four Westerners abducted at gunpoint Saturday in Baghdad. The Canadians, junior members of an aid group involved in easing the plight of Iraqi civilians living under military rule, were believed ambushed while travelling in an area of Western Baghdad known as a hotbed of insurgent activity. An American aid worker and a British national were seized in the same operation. But Elizabeth Colton, a spokeswoman at the United States Embassy in Baghdad, told Associated Press that the U. S. was still investigating whether an American was, in fact, among the missing. The U. K. Foreign Office identified the Briton as Norman Kember, from London.

Kember’s wife, Pat, told Reuters her husband, believed to be in his 70s, used to be secretary of the Baptist Peace Fellowship in Pinner, north London, where the couple live, but he no longer represents the group.

“ He is representing a number of different organizations,” she said. The Toronto Star has learned the identity of the aid organization the abducted Canadians are working with, but is not publishing the information at the request of the organization. A group official said last night that although their activity in Baghdad involved a dedicated effort to improve life for Iraqi civilians, the immediate release of details could hamper the crucial early efforts to secure the release of the captives.

“ We’re offering all the help we can but have been asked at this

point to not talk about it,” said Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad. Canon Andrew White, head of a group in Iraq that works with religious and tribal leaders to try to win the release of hostages, said yesterday that the first 48 hours are critical. A successful outcome, he said, often depends on quiet negotiations.

“ At this point nobody knows much, but we’re working hard on it here,” he said yesterday when reached by the Star in Baghdad. The British Embassy in Baghdad, together with the Iraqi Interior Ministry, was believed to be taking the lead on the investigation.

Canada, which has yet to establish an embassy in Iraq, is being represented by its lone diplomatic officer stationed in central Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to most Western diplomats.

Officials at the Canadian Embassy in Amman, the country’s nearest diplomatic mission, were also involved in aroundtheclock contact with Baghdad and Ottawa. The vast majority of international aid groups have long since withdrawn their Western staff, relying instead upon domestic hires far less susceptible to the so- called soft- target abductions that have characterized the insurgency in Iraq. But a small number of Canadians have been among a handful of non- governmental organizations that continue to

operate in Iraq.

The Canadian group

involved in today’s crisis, however, operates

entirely beyond the

sphere of politics, focusing instead on ways

to help Iraqi civilians negotiate a checkpoint-laden, often deadly hostile environment. An official with the group, speaking to the Star last night on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the organization is wrestling with whether going public might improve the prospects of the Canadian captives, given the completely benign nature of the project.

“ We know that insurgents are watching the Internet. We’ve been advised by some sources that giving a bona fide identity might actually be positive,” the official said.

“ But we’ve also been told these first hours are crucial, and to say nothing in the meantime. If we don’t have good news by this time tomorrow, we will be thinking again what to do.” Prime Minister Paul Martin, in Vancouver yesterday for the Grey Cup, wouldn’t provide any details about the kidnapping.

“I don’t want to make a comment,” he told the Star’s Bruce Campion- Smith. “ We don’t want to jeopardize anybody.”