DATE=12/16/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SIERRA LEONE / RELEASE (L-O)
NUMBER=2-257218
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Rebels in Sierra Leone have released two
European aid workers. The French aid group Doctors
Without Borders says its two volunteers were set free
on Thursday after being held by a faction of the
Revolutionary United Front for 10 days. V-O-A's John
Pitman has details from our West Africa bureau.
TEXT: A spokesman at Doctors Without Borders' Paris
headquarters tells V-O-A the two volunteers - a
Belgian and a German - are in good health and should
be on their way home soon.
Spokesman Guillaume le Gallais says the volunteers
were released on Thursday in the town of Daru, in
eastern Sierra Leone.
The two men - a doctor and a logistics expert -
disappeared on December 6th after going to a meeting
with the rebel military commander, Sam Bockarie, in
the eastern Kailahun district.
Last week, Mr. Bockarie said he had detained the men
to show his "dissatisfaction" with the on-going
disarmament process. In an interview with V-O-A's
Africa Service, Mr. Bockarie also said he was holding
the aid workers to protect himself against an
assassination attempt by rivals within the
Revolutionary United Front, the R-U-F.
Doctors Without Borders says it mobilized as much
international support as it could to win the men's
release. But on Thursday, spokesman Guillaume le
Gallais said it was too early to tell what specific
action had prompted Mr. Bockarie to free the two men.
Doctors Without Borders had been working in rebel-held
areas of eastern Sierra Leone for several months when
the men were detained. Spokesman Guillaume le Gallais
says the group's operations in the area are now closed
down. But he says the program's long-term future will
only be decided after the two volunteers have a chance
to explain exactly what happened to them. (SIGNED)
NEB/JP/JP
16-Dec-1999 14:38 PM EDT (16-Dec-1999 1938 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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