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Indian peacekeepers transferred by RUF

    ABIDJAN

    The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has transferred to an unknown destination 21 of the 23 Indian peacekeepers it had surrounded in Kuiva, eastern Sierra Leone, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Tuesday.

    The exact circumstances of their transfer were not immediately known but the UN Mission in Sierra Leone reported that they were moved out of Kuiva around 19:00 GMT on Monday by truck and jeep, Eckhard said.

    Each peacekeepers had a rifle, a sidearm and a backpack. They were apparently told that they would be moving to the town of Pendembu to meet with their force commander but there has been no contact with them since then, Eckhard said.

    He recalled that Pendembu had been a staging post on the way to Freetown for the UNAMSIL detainees who had been released via the Liberian border town of Foya.

    The other two peacekeepers from Kuiva had been part of a supply convoy that went over the weekend to Kailahun. It is now with the other 235 UN personnel remain surrounded by the RUF, the UN spokesman said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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