(CPJ/IFEX) – The following journalists are missing and feared abducted or killed by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels: **Update to IFEX alerts of 28 January, 22 January, 21 January, 20 January, 12 January, 11 January and 6 January 1999, 10 December and 9 December 1998** Dominick Kabba Kargbo (reported earlier as Kabba Karbo), deputy editor […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following journalists are missing and feared abducted
or killed by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels:
**Update to IFEX alerts of 28 January, 22 January, 21 January, 20
January, 12 January, 11 January and 6 January 1999, 10 December and 9
December 1998**
Dominick Kabba Kargbo (reported earlier as Kabba Karbo), deputy editor
of the independent newspaper “Pathfinder,” is currently missing and
feared dead. Kargbo last reported, in a British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) “Focus on Africa” program interview, about the December 20, 1998
attack by RUF rebels on Waterloo (32 kilometers east of Freetown).
During the interview, Kargbo stated that he had witnessed the RUF
attack, and that the rebels appeared militarily superior to the West
African Peacekeeping Forces (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. CPJ sources report that
a number of CID detainees were shot dead by RUF rebels. Kargbo has not
been seen or heard from since.
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. He lives in
Kissy, in the Eastern End of Freetown, an area devastated by RUF attack.
Christopher Coker, managing editor of the independent newspaper
“Advocate,” is missing and feared abducted by RUF rebels.
CPJ sources report that Bishop Joseph Ganda, who was abducted by RUF
rebels in January 1999 and later released, stated that when he was being
held by the RUF, some of the abductees were journalists. Local
journalists believe that, based on the description of the journalists,
they could be Adams and Christopher Coker.