CHRISTO JOHNSON, Freetown | Tuesday 6.45pm.
THE last of the hostages held by former rebel soldiers in Sierra Leone were released on Tuesday.
Sierra Leonean Information Minister Julius Spencer told journalists at a press conference in Freetown that the rebels also freed some 200 civilians, mainly women and children, who were captured earlier this year.
The last group of hostages released was made up of 20 Nigerian soldiers from the West-African peacekeeping force ECOMOG, a Kazakh member of the UN observer mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) and some 200 civilians, Spencer said.
More than 30 hostages, including five British soldiers, were seized last Wednesday by rebel soldiers still loyal to Johnny Paul Koroma, who led the former military junta, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), from May 1997 to February 1998.
The civilians were taken prisoner by a former rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), when it invaded Freetown in January. –AFP