wfn.org | Two Relief Workers Abducted and Shot in Sierra Leone

["Beckett, John" <BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org>]

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
March 14, 2000
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Two Relief Workers Abducted and Shot in Sierra Leone
Freetown, Sierra Leone ... [ANN]  

Two staff members of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in
Sierra Leone are in critical condition after being abducted, held hostage
overnight, and then left on a side road with bullet wounds and other
injuries, according to Prince Cummings, ADRA Sierra Leone country director.

The two staff members, Aaron Kargbo, who works with the Family Tracing and
Reunification projects funded by ADRA Sweden, and Aruna Sherrif, who works
with families of ex-combatants in Port Loko, were returning by motorbike to
Port Loko on March 7.  Kargbo and Sherrif had traveled to Freetown along
with four other staff members to pick up some equipment, including the
motorbike, from an ADRA field office. The other staff members and their
vehicle returned safely to Port Loko, but concern arose when the two
bringing the motorbike did not return after several hours.

The two missing staff members were found by United Nations peacekeepers a
day after they were reported missing. Both were admitted to the Port Loko
government hospital in critical condition.  The motorbike has not been
recovered. 

"Aaron (Kargbo) has been working with ADRA Sierra Leone for the past three
years and has been a very dedicated and committed staff member in carrying
out his duties," Cummings says. "Aaron, whose wife died recently, is one of
the ADRA staff who has suffered many painful experiences from the conflict
in Sierra Leone." 

Aruna Sherrif is new to ADRA's staff, having started work about two months
ago, says Cummings.

Port Loko is a center for rehabilitation for ex-combatants. ADRA has been
asked by the rehabilitation and resettlement wing of the government to be
the lead agency, working in partnership with two other local
non-governmental organizations, and is responsible for 1,500  families of
ex-combatants. The project is funded by Britainšs Department for
International Development (DFID).   [ADRA/ANN Staff]
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