Tuareg rebels fighting the government of Niger released their last hostage on Sunday, an interior minister said on state TV.

The president of Niger acknowledged Tuesday that a Canadian diplomat who disappeared during a U.N. mission to the West African nation last month was kidnapped by rebels.

The United Nations said Tuesday it is working with the governments of Canada and Niger and others in west Africa to help secure the release of the kidnapped U.N. special envoy to Niger.

A rebel group has backed away from an earlier claim of responsibility for the abduction of a U.N. diplomat on the outskirts of Niger’s capital.

Tuareg rebels claim they have kidnapped a United Nations envoy to Niger.

Two Canadian diplomats working for the United Nations in Niger have been missing since Sunday night along with the driver of their abandoned vehicle, U.N. officials said Monday.

United Nations officials say the U.N.’s special envoy to Niger has gone missing in the West African state.

An international aid group will leave Niger because the government unexpectedly terminated its medical and nutritional program in one of the country’s drought-prone districts, an official announced Thursday.

Press freedom fell dramatically in Georgia and Niger this year as new armed conflicts flared up, while China continued to jail dissidents even as it hosted the world’s press for the Olympics, a media rights group said Wednesday.

Dozens of land mines accidentally exploded Sunday in Niger during a ceremony in which a group of former rebels were handing over arms, killing one person and wounding about 40 including the regional governor, the government said.