Last hostages freed

Former Sierra Leone Army (ex-SLA) rebels have freed their last remaining hostages as well as women and children abducted in January, Information Minister Julius Spencer told IRIN from Freetown on Tuesday.

"Fifteen ECOMOG soldiers and one UN military observer along with some 200 women and children have been released," Spencer said. He said the soldiers had arrived in Freetown and seemed to be in good condition, unlike the women and children, who were still on their way to the capital.

"There are reports that the women and children are weak and some of the girls are pregnant," Spencer said. Once they are in Freetown they will receive medical attention and trauma counselling before returning to their families, he added.

Information received from former child captives by the ministry responsible for childrens' affairs indicated that girls kidnapped by rebels were used as sex slaves and boys trained to use guns and fight, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

The recently freed hostages formed part of a UN-led mission of 42 who were abducted on 4 August in the Occra Hills, about 70 km east of Freetown, by the ex-SLA, who demanded the liberation of their leader, Johnny Paul Koroma.

Koroma had headed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta which ruled Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998 before it was ousted by ECOMOG. The hostage-takers claimed he had been detained by his Revolutionary United Front (RUF) allies.

By last Thursday, they had released seven of the group which included UN military observers, journalists, civilians and ECOMOG soldiers. Over the weekend, Koroma appealed to his men from Liberia via the BBC to release the others as well as the children and, on Sunday, a further 19 hostages were freed. All were reported to be in good health.

When asked what steps would be taken to avoid a repetition of the recent events, Spencer said his government regarded the hostage taking as an "isolated incident," and felt there was still a commitment on all sides involved in the Sierra Leone peace process to continue with its implementation.

Spencer said Koroma had been actively involved in the release of the hostages through his radio broadcast and "several discussions with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah".

In addition, he said, four senior AFRC officers from the Occra Hills were now in Freetown and were expected to travel to Liberia's capital, Monrovia, by Wednesday to meet their leader and "discuss their grievances."

In addition to Koroma's release, the hostage takers had demanded food and medicine, and more of a stake in the 7 July Lome Peace Agreement, negotiated between the RUF and the government.

Spencer told IRIN no food and medicine had been handed over.

Observers in Freetown said another issue was the desire of the former SLA soldiers to be reintegrated into the new Sierra Leonean army.

Preacher reported killed behind rebel lines

Meanwhile, the Evangelical Fellowship of Sierra Leone (EFSL) told IRIN on Tuesday that one of its pastors was shot dead in the Northern Province at the weekend.

The General Secretary of the EFSL, Crispin Cole, said reports they had received indicated that the Reverend Francis Turay was shot and killed on Sunday between Makeni and Lunsar, but no other details were available.

Turay, the EFSL Regional Officer for Northern Province, had been working behind rebel lines, the EFSL said.