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Another 44 detainees return

    ABIDJAN

    Another 13 UN peacekeepers freed by their Revolutionary United Front (RUF) captors were taken from Liberia to Freetown on Thursday and all were reported in good health, Fred Eckhard, spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, reported on Friday.

    Following the return of 93 former UN detainees to Freetown on Tuesday, another group of 44 were handed over to the UN by Liberia and arrived in the Sierra Leonean capital on Wednesday.

    As with the previous group they are reported to be in good physical health, he said, adding that UN policy remained the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees.

    Eckhard said that the UN was concerned about its lack of access to 30 or 40 injured peacekeepers believed to be in Sierra Leone, according to the Liberian authorities. As of Friday, an estimated 350 peacekeepers are still being held by RUF rebels, Eckhard said.

    Meanwhile UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies are very concerned about the fate of former child soldiers and are trying to assist them to the best of their ability, Eckhard said on Thursday. Human rights officers who visited the Masiaka area east of Freetown earlier this week said 25 to 30 percent of the combatants seen were children between the ages of seven and 14.

    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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