Roger Auque

Roger Henri Auque (January 11, 1956 – September 8, 2014) was a French journalist, war correspondent, diplomat and spy. He served as France's Ambassador to Eritrea from 2009 to 2012.

Auque was born in Roubaix, France, on January 11, 1956. His father was a Gaullist, while his mother, whose maiden name was Baudry, was a French Communist. Roger Auque identified with the French right and became a member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

Auque began his career as a freelance reporter in the late 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War. He worked closely with member of Lebanon's Phalange political party during the war. He also became friends with Uri Lubrani, the Israeli governor of coordinator of South Lebanon from 1983 to 2000.

Auque was arrested by Hezbollah in January 1987 after being suspected of espionage activity on behalf of the Israelis. He was one of the first Western journalists and espionage agents to be held by Hezbollah during the war. Auque was held with another French journalist, Jean-Louis Normandin, of Antenne 2 TV (present-day France 2). In a 2014 interview with Le Parisien, Normadin recalled their captivity, "We met in the trunk of a car in Beirut, later we have been freed together, on the same evening..... He was a charmer...always keep smiling... [with] sincerity, enthusiasm, energy." Auque became a devout Catholic after receiving a Bible from one of his captors. Both Auque and Normandin were freed in November 1987 following negotiations and financial payments from then French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and Interior Minister Charles Pasqua.

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