  We report the results of a high-energy multi-instrumental campaign with
INTEGRAL, RXTE, and Swift of the recently discovered INTEGRAL source IGR
J19294+1816. The Swift/XRT data allow us to refine the position of the source
to RA= 19h 29m 55.9s Dec=+18deg 18' 38.4" (+- 3.5"), which in turn permits us
to identify a candidate infrared counterpart. The Swift and RXTE spectra are
well fitted with absorbed power laws with hard (Gamma ~ 1) photon indices.
During the longest Swift observation, we obtained evidence of absorption in
true excess to the Galactic value, which may indicate some intrinsic absorption
in this source. We detected a strong (P=40%) pulsation at 12.43781 (+-0.00003)
s that we interpret as the spin period of a pulsar. All these results, coupled
with the possible 117 day orbital period, point to IGR J19294+1816 being an
HMXB with a Be companion star. However, while the long-term INTEGRAL/IBIS/ISGRI
18--40 keV light curve shows that the source spends most of its time in an
undetectable state, we detect occurrences of short (~2000-3000 s) and intense
flares that are more typical of supergiant fast X-ray transients. We therefore
cannot make firm conclusions on the type of system, and we discuss the possible
implications of IGR J19294+1816 being an SFXT.

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena