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Dozens of people were killed at the weekend in fighting between the RUF rebels and pro-government traditional hunters known as Kamajors, local reporters said.
AFP reported that the fighting broke out in Yele, some 150 km east of Freetown, when the rebels attacked a ferry. Several other people were badly wounded in the incident, the agency said.
In another development, the agency said two pro-government troops escaped rebel captivity on 16 April. The two, a 26-year old Sierra Leonean soldier and a Nigerian member of ECOMOG, were taken prisoner when rebels invaded the capital in January. Speaking on state television from the military hospital beds, both soldiers said they were badly treated in captivity. The Sierra Leonean said he was tied throughout his captivity.
He said the rebels also held a list of all loyalist Sierra Leonean soldiers who went over to ECOMOG when the force flushed rebels out of Freetown in 1998. The Nigerian added that a number of civilians were still in rebel hands.
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