(CPJ/IFEX) – Four journalists were among a group of people taken hostage by Sierra Leone rebels on Wednesday 4 August 1999, in the Okra Hills some forty miles east of the capital Freetown. The four journalists are Reuters reporter Christo Johnson, Pasco Temple, a journalist with Star Radio in Liberia, Ade Campbell of the Sierra […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – Four journalists were among a group of people taken hostage by
Sierra
Leone rebels on Wednesday 4 August 1999, in the Okra Hills some forty miles
east of the capital Freetown.
The four journalists are Reuters reporter Christo Johnson, Pasco Temple, a
journalist with Star Radio in Liberia, Ade Campbell of the Sierra Leone
Broadcasting Service (SLBS) radio and Chernor Bangura, a cameraman for SLBS
television.
The group, which also included United Nations (UN) military observers and
aid workers, had gone to the Okra Hills for the handover of about 200
children abducted by rebels throughout the eight year civil war. The
children were not released. Instead, the UN-led group was detained by the
rebels, who are reported to be loyal to the former military junta of the
Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Some members of the group were
later released. The West Africa Reuters bureau in Abidjan confirmed,
however, that as of 16:00 GMT on Thursday 5 August, the three journalists
were still being held. The total number of hostages is unclear.
The rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), that has been allied with the
AFRC since their first military coup in May 1997, signed a peace agreement
with the Sierra Leone government on 7 July 1999. Disarmament of the rebels
is provided for in the agreement.
