Silence from Iraq worries mother

Andreas Schafer was on his "life trip" and only days away from leaving Iraq when he lost contact with his family and disappeared, his mother said yesterday.

Ursula Schafer, of New Plymouth, was pleased that recent information proved he was alive and well but said she was still concerned by a lack of information about where he was and why he was being held in custody.

"We're still very worried about Andy, he is not out yet," she said.

Since leaving New Zealand last July, 26-year-old Mr Schafer had been in regular contact with his family while travelling through India, Nepal and Pakistan.

"He was travelling on a very tight budget and planning to work along the way - he didn't need any luxuries."

Mrs Schafer said initially the reports from Baghdad, at the beginning of March, were good, and her son was enjoying the history of the region.

"The people are very sophisticated, this is a very interesting place," Mr Schafer said in an email home.

But, his mother said, he found it very expensive and planned to move on fairly quickly.

"The situation then was very different from what it is now."

Then Mrs Schafer received an email that indicated her son had been detained for some reason in Iraq and she contacted authorities to report him missing.

Since then speculation and inaccurate reports in the national media have frustrated Mrs Schafer.

"They said last night on the news that he left New Zealand 10 years ago. It's just not true," she said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had been very helpful.

While hopeful that her son would return home once he was released from Iraq, Mrs Schafer thought he might travel on to Africa.

She said it had been his intention to head to Namibia.

It was likely that he would not be deterred by his Iraq ordeal. "He has always been independent. He is very resilient."

- NZPA

Herald Feature: Iraq