Rebels hunting down journalists, press watchdog says

Local journalists in war-torn Sierra Leone have been hunted down and some killed in cold blood by RUF and rebel army elements, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said yesterday. Rebels who attacked Freetown on 6 January, it said, were armed with a list of journalists “who were to be eliminated” for their perceived anti-RUF coverage of the war. CPJ, based in New York, named journalists Jenner “J.C.” Cole, and Mohammed Kamara of station SKY-FM as people summarily shot dead by the rebels. CPJ said media houses were either burned or otherwise damaged in an effort to silence reporters. The only radio station still broadcasting is the pro-government FM 98.1, transmitting from New England near the ECOMOG stronghold of Wilberforce Barracks. However, no original local news is being broadcast. The radio is airing religious music, presidential and government statements and BBC African Service news programmes.