16 February 1999
MORE JOURNALISTS MURDERED AND REPORTED MISSING
The seemingly never ending toll of journalists who have been murdered, or who are missing and feared dead, has increased again in Sierra Leone, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). (For more information, see IFEX "Communiques" #8-4, #8-3, and #8-1.) While most of the journalists are presumed to have been murdered by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, CPJ reports that Abdullai Jumah Jalloh, news editor of the independent newspaper "African Champion", was murdered by a soldier of the West African Peacekeeping Forces (ECOMOG) in Freetown on 3 February. Jalloh was apparently mistaken for a RUF rebel and executed point blank. CPJ has discovered that sometime between 9 and 15 January, Munir Turay, a freelance broadcast and print journalist, died, reportedly after being shot in the back. According to IFEX's partner in Nigeria, who must remain anonymous for safety concerns, Nigerian journalist James Ogogo, previously declared missing and feared dead, has indeed been killed in Sierra Leone. ">http://communique.ifex.org/articles.cfm?category=1%20Regional%20News&volume=8&issue_no=4&lng=english#329">#8-4, #8-3, and #8-1.) While most of the journalists are presumed to have been murdered by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, CPJ reports that Abdullai Jumah Jalloh, news editor of the independent newspaper "African Champion", was murdered by a soldier of the West African Peacekeeping Forces (ECOMOG) in Freetown on 3 February. Jalloh was apparently mistaken for a RUF rebel and executed point blank. CPJ has discovered that sometime between 9 and 15 January, Munir Turay, a freelance broadcast and print journalist, died, reportedly after being shot in the back. According to IFEX's partner in Nigeria, who must remain anonymous for safety concerns, Nigerian journalist James Ogogo, previously declared missing and feared dead, has indeed been killed in Sierra Leone.
Among the journalists CPJ reports as missing and feared killed or abducted by RUF rebels is Dominick Kabba Kargbo, deputy editor of the independent newspaper "Pathfinder". Kargbo last reported, in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interview, that he had witnessed a 20 December 1998 attack by RUF rebels in which they appeared militarily superior to ECOMOG. Criminal Investigation Department (CID) agents claimed they took Kargbo into custody "for his own protection." When the RUF arrived in Freetown, Kargbo was still in detention at the CID and CPJ sources report that a number of CID detainees were shot dead by RUF rebels. CPJ notes ominously that "Kargbo has not been seen or heard from since."
CPJ says Adams, a freelance reporter for numerous independent newspapers, is missing and feared abducted by RUF rebels. He has not been seen by family or colleagues since the RUF arrival in Freetown. Christopher Coker, managing editor of the independent newspaper "Advocate," is also missing and feared abducted by RUF rebels. CPJ sources report that Bishop Joseph Ganda, who was abducted by RUF rebels in January and later released, said that when he was being held by the RUF, some of the abductees were journalists. According to CPJ, "Local journalists believe that, based on the description of the journalists, they could be Adams and Christopher Coker."
RSS