Detainees’ fate remains primary concern, Eckhard says

The spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard, told journalists in New York that “the fate of an estimated 500 detained UN personnel remained a primary concern” and that efforts were underway “to seek their release, ferry water and food to them and evacuate the wounded”.

The group includes 208 Zambians held last week who, Eckhard said, had been taken to the eastern area of Koidu. Koidu lies in the diamond-mining territory of Kono, controlled by the RUF.

Eckhard also said that at least one UN helicopter ferrying supplies to the detainees in the interior was fired upon on Sunday but no casualties were reported. He also said that the situation in the capital, Freetown, was unstable and very tense.

According to the UN spokesman, one Kenyan peacekeeper has so far been killed—earlier reports said four—while another is missing. He said the body of the dead peacekeeper had been seen but not recovered.

Eckhard also announced that Bernard Miyet, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, had been sent to Freetown in a “last-ditch effort to put the peace process back on track”.