(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has appealed to all sides in the fighting in Liberia to avoid harming journalists after a French photographer, Patrick Robert, was seriously wounded in the chest and arm during clashes on 19 July 2003 between government and rebel forces on the outskirts of Monrovia. RSF called on President Charles Taylor’s government and […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has appealed to all sides in the fighting in Liberia to avoid harming journalists after a French photographer, Patrick Robert, was seriously wounded in the chest and arm during clashes on 19 July 2003 between government and rebel forces on the outskirts of Monrovia.
RSF called on President Charles Taylor’s government and the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to comply with the Geneva Conventions that protect civilians, including journalists, in war zones. The organisation noted that many Liberian journalists have been forced to flee the capital after being threatened by one side or the other.
Robert, who was working for the U.S. weekly magazine “Time” and the Sygma Corbis photo agency, was given first aid at the U.S. embassy and then transferred to Red Cross emergency services, where doctors removed his spleen. He is still in intensive care. Sygma Corbis told RSF that Robert would be sent to Côte d’Ivoire as soon his health and the security situation permitted.
Top Liberian army officials claimed he was hit by rebel fire, but this could not be confirmed. Fierce fighting has raged in and around Monrovia for the past week and, according to the BBC, at least 500 civilians have been killed.
