(CPJ/IFEX) – Three journalists were among the remaining hostages released by rebels in Sierra Leone, the last of whom were released on Tuesday 10 August 1999. The three were Ade Campbell and Chernor Bangura, reporter and cameraman, respectively, for the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) radio and television, and Pasco Temple, a reporter for Star […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – Three journalists were among the remaining hostages released by
rebels in Sierra Leone, the last of whom were released on Tuesday 10 August
1999. The three were Ade Campbell and Chernor Bangura, reporter and
cameraman, respectively, for the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS)
radio and television, and Pasco Temple, a reporter for Star Radio of
Liberia.
About 200 children who had been abducted during Sierra Leone’s eight year
civil war were also released by the rebels. The group of approximately forty
civilian and military personnel – including United Nations military
observers, Nigerian peacekeepers, aid workers and four local journalists –
had tried to secure the release of these children when they were themselves
taken hostage in the Okra Hills, some forty miles east of Freetown, on 4
August.
The release followed a call by Johnny Paul Koroma, the leader of the Armed
Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to whom the former soldiers are loyal,
that all the hostages should be released unharmed.
