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Sierra Leone Rebels Release 139 U.N. Peacekeepers
A total of 139 of the 500 United Nations personnel held hostage by rebels in Sierra Leone were released into Liberian custody, according to an Associated Press report.
Fifteen of the 139 freed captives flown by a government-chartered helicopter to Monrovia, Liberia's capital on Sunday evening and the remaining 124 were waiting to be evacuated from the Liberian border town of Foya, some 200 kilometers to the north, the AP reported in Monrovia.
Liberian President Charles Taylor, who had been asked by regional leaders to mediate with Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) as one of its closest ally, was quoted as describing the release as a "successful mediation effort" by a team of Liberian officials.
The released peacekeepers had trekked for nearly three days through heavily forested eastern Sierra Leone to Liberia after their trucks got stuck on bad roads, said Taylor.
Up to 500 U.N. peacekeepers and military observers have been taken hostage by the RUF rebels since May 2.
The Liberian president added that he will go on with the mediation to get the remaining U.N. hostages released but he warned that continued attacks by Sierra Leone's pro-government forces against the rebel RUF might threaten the lives of the captives.
On the same day, pro-government fighters have taken a strategic town from rebels on the main road 65 kilometers northeast of the capital.
In their decade-long bid for power, the RUF rebels have killed tens of thousands of people in Sierra Leone. Rebel leader Foday Sankoh was still out of sight since he disappeared last Monday following a demonstration and shoot-out at his residence in the capital.
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