**Updates IFEX alerts of 28 January, 22 January, 21 January, 20 January, 11 January and 6 January 1999** (CPJ/IFEX) – The follwing is a 27 January 1999 CPJ press release: Attacks on Sierra Leone Journalists Claim Four Lives, CPJ Reports New York, N.Y., Jan. 27 – Four journalists have been killed in Sierra Leone since […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 28 January, 22 January, 21 January, 20
January, 11
January and 6 January 1999**
(CPJ/IFEX) – The follwing is a 27 January 1999 CPJ press release:
Attacks on Sierra Leone Journalists Claim Four Lives, CPJ Reports
New York, N.Y., Jan. 27 – Four journalists have been killed in Sierra Leone
since January 9, and at least four more are missing and feared dead in a
campaign against journalists being carried out by the Revolutionary United
Front (RUF) rebels, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported
today.
Killed on January 9 were local journalists Jenner Cole of SKY-FM, Mohammed
Kamara of KISS-FM, and Paul Mansaray, deputy editor of the newspaper
Standard Times. On January 10, Myles Tierney, a U.S. journalist with
Associated Press Television News (APTN), was shot dead in an attack on three
AP journalists.
Missing and feared dead are Michael Charlie Hinga, an on-air broadcaster for
the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS), Mabay Kamara, a freelance
reporter, James Ogogo, an editorial consultant for Concord Times, and
Sylvester Rogers, the Makeni correspondent for the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC).
“It is clear from the information we are receiving from Freetown that
journalists were targeted by the rebels for their perceived anti-RUF
coverage of the civil war,” said Kakuna Kerina, CPJ Africa program
coordinator. “Ironically, some of these same journalists were recently under
attack from President Kabba’s government for their coverage of the RUF’s
advances towards Freetown.” Sierra Leone has been racked with civil strife
for years. The democratically elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, took
charge in 1996 but was overthrown the following year by the Armed Forces
Revolutionary Council (AFRC). He was returned to power last March with the
help of the largely Nigerian-led West Africa Peacekeeping Force, known as
ECOMOG, but in late 1998 rebels regained control of large portions of the
country.
Cole was abducted by RUF rebels from his Freetown residence and was being
taken to an RUF base when, following a disruption caused by an ECOMOG plane,
he was summarily shot in the head by his abductors in front of his fiance.
Mohammed Kamara was seized in his Freetown home by RUF rebels and questioned
about his association with KISS-FM. When the rebels were satisfied he was
the journalist they were seeking, they opened fire and shot him dead.
Mansaray was murdered in his home in Freetown along with his wife, two young
children and a nephew. A fellow journalist, who alerted Mansaray when he saw
RUF rebels approaching, sought refuge in a neighbor’s house and overheard
the rebels threatening Mansaray about his journalistic work. The rebels set
Mansaray’s house ablaze and sprayed it with gunfire, with Mansaray and his
family inside.
AP journalists Tierney, Ian Stewart and David Guttenfelder were driving
through Freetown under ECOMOG escort when rebel fighters approached their
vehicle and opened fire, killing Tierney instantly. Stewart was seriously
wounded in the head and flown to London for treatment, where he is said to
be improving.
Among the missing journalists, Mabay Kamara was abducted by RUF rebels from
his Freetown house, which was then set on fire. His wife, who witnessed the
abduction, has also disappeared. Ogogo, a Nigerian national, is feared to
have been caught by RUF rebels while fleeing to a safer area of Freetown.
The only journalist reported to have survived a physical attack to date is
Mustapha Sesay, a production manager for Standard Times. Sesay was attacked
by RUF rebels when they invaded his home armed with cutlasses and gouged out
his right eye with a machete. “These are but the most egregious crimes
against journalists that have come to light,” said Kerina, noting that there
are many more cases of attacks still to be reported.
