M A I N   N E W S

Indian troops released

MONROVIA, June 29 (AFP) — Rebels in Sierra Leone have freed 21 UN peacekeepers, all Indians, held hostage in an eastern Sierra Leonean town, Liberia’s President Charles Taylor said today.

A Reuter report said today that rebels in Sierra Leone had handed them over to the Liberian authorities. The government statement did not make clear whether the 21 were from a group taken hostages from in the town of Kuiva on June 5 or came from a separate contingent surrounded in nearby Kailahun since early in May. “President Charles Taylor revealed today that 21 of the over 200 Indian UN peacekeepers held hostage by the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) have been released to the Liberian Government,’’ the statement said.

“The released hostages are already on Liberian soil and were expected in Monrovia today for onward departure to Sierra Leone,’’ it added. RUF fighters took hostage hundreds of peacekeepers in May following a dispute over disarmament under a 1999 peace deal. They released them all, mostly through Liberia.