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Sierra Leone hostages set free after weeks of captivity |
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May 30, 2000
FREETOWN, MAY 29 (AP) - Sierra Leone's hostage crisis appeared to be over, with what was believed to be the last of about 500 U.N. hostages returning to the capital, bedraggled but safe after weeks in the clutches of this West African country's brutal rebels.
Most of the 85 hostages freed Sunday were in good shape, although some were being treated for malaria, minor injuries and fatigue, said medical officials in neighboring Liberia, where they were transported before being returned to Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.
"I feel very happy. I thought we were never going to reach this place. Thank God we are here," said Zambian Lance Cpl. Elias Mwanza in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.
Mwanza, who suffered from a swollen jaw and other injuries, said some of the captors had tormented the hostages while others were more kind and promised not to kill them "because we are their African brothers." Most of those freed Sunday were Zambian.
The former captives arrived in Freetown on Sunday night from Monrovia, said U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst.
A senior Liberian military official said on condition of anonymity that more freed hostages were still on the Sierra Leone-Liberia border and would be flown out Monday, but Wimhurst could not confirm this.
Four unaccounted-for peacekeepers were believed to have been killed in fighting when the hostage crisis began on May 6, Wimhurst said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed hope that "the freeing of the remaining peacekeepers will help create conditions in which the long and agonizing search for peace and stability in Sierra Leone can at last be brought to a successful conclusion," said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard in a statement from New York.
Wimhurst echoed those sentiments, saying "the release signals a positive change of direction by the RUF in resolving the present crisis," referring to the Revolutionary United Front, the secretive and isolated rebel group notorious for atrocities against civilians and its diamond dealing.
Some 23 Indian peacekeepers remained surrounded by rebels in the eastern village of Quiver, Wimhurst said.
Hundreds of hostages have been released in a trickle during the previous weeks. It was not clear why the rebels decided to free the last of their captives this weekend.
The United Nations did not release any new information about the negotiations that led to the last releases, which were led by Liberian President Charles Taylor. Taylor is the closest regional ally to the RUF.
On Friday and Saturday, 143 hostages were flown from Monrovia to Freetown.
Despite the releases, fighting between rebels and pro-government forces was reported over the weekend at the strategic crossroads of Rogberi Junction, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Freetown, Wimhurst said. He had no further details.
Meanwhile, West African heads of state were gathering for weekend meetings in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to discuss the crisis in Sierra Leone. Informal talks were held Saturday and the main gathering was held Sunday.
The rebels have killed tens of thousands of people and intentionally mutilated many more during Sierra Leone's eight-year civil war. The conflict reignited earlier this month when the RUF rebels took the U.N. peacekeepers hostage and began advancing toward Freetown.
Since then, a ragtag alliance of pro-government forces has tried to push the rebels away from the capital. The rebels' leader Foday Sankoh is in government custody and officials have said they may prosecute him for illegal diamond dealing and the killings of 21 people who were shot by his fighters during a public demonstration outside his home earlier this month.
Any prosecution of Sankoh threatens to spark an escalation of war. Sankoh's rebels have reportedly demanded his release.
Associated Press Television News cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora and Reuters correspondent Kurt Schork were killed Wednesday in a rebel ambush in Sierra Leone. South African cameraman Mark Chisholm and Greek photographer Yannis Behrakis suffered light injuries in the same attack.
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