FIFTY-FIVE Guineans who had been abducted by Sierra Leonean rebels have arrived home with accounts of death, rape and forced labour, state television in the West African country said on Sunday. The television showed pictures of the 55 dishevelled civilians, more than a third of them children, who had been released by the Revolutionary United Front some six months after being captured on raids into southern Guinea. Among the freed captives was a senior official from the town of Gueckedou who said he knew of 11 Guineans who had died in captivity as a result of harsh treatment by the rebels. Several women said they had been raped while men said they had been forced to work for the rebels. A conflict since the middle of last year at the remote junction of the borders of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone involves all three countries and various dissident groups. – Reuters