(CJFE/IFEX) – Abidjan-based Associated Press (AP) West African Bureau Chief Ian Stewart is reported to be making steady progress in a London hospital following two successful operations. Stewart, 32, is recovering in London after undergoing two operations to repair damage caused after being shot in the head and critically wounded when the vehicle he was […]
(CJFE/IFEX) – Abidjan-based Associated Press (AP) West African Bureau Chief
Ian Stewart is reported to be making steady progress in a London hospital
following two successful operations. Stewart, 32, is recovering in London
after undergoing two operations to repair damage caused after being shot in
the head and critically wounded when the vehicle he was traveling in through
Freetown, Sierra Leone, was sprayed with bullets by a man reported to be a
rebel. AP television producer Myles Tierney, 34, of New York City, was
killed in the same attack.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 11 January 1999**
At an AP memorial service for Tierney held on 25 January 1999, Thomas J.
Kent, AP’s international editor, said that Stewart had begun to write short
notes and would shortly begin speech therapy, reports AP. Stewart indicated
in a note that he wanted to cover the national elections in Nigeria next
month. “It’s my turf,” the injured journalist wrote.
On 4 February, the AP Toronto Bureau reported that Stewart is now mobile to
some degree, and is also able to whisper. Doctors now say he is out of
danger but is expected to have a long recovery ahead.
Background Information
On 10 January, Stewart, Miles Tierney and AP photographer David Guttenfelder
were driving through downtown Freetown when their station wagon was sprayed
with bullets by a man reported to be a rebel. An armed man approached the
vehicle and, after an exchange of words with an ECOMOG soldier in the
vehicle, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle. Tierney was shot and
killed instantly. Stewart was shot in the head and injured critically.
Nairobi-based photographer Guttenfelder suffered minor injuries, receiving
cuts from broken window glass when the vehicle was shot at.
The journalists were rushed to a nearby ECOMOG base, and then flown to
Conakry, Guinea. From there, Stewart and Guttenfelder were transported to
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and Stewart was subsequently airlifted to London,
where he underwent two successful operations and is making his recovery.
