Freetown - Two European journalists were abducted yesterday by Sierra Leone rebels who later asked one to deliver a guerrilla demand to authorities.
French journalist Patrick Saint Paul, of Paris daily Le Figaro, told reporters he and Spaniard Javier Espinosa, of Spanish newspaper El Mundo, were seized at Rukupa near Wellington, an eastern suburb of the capital, Freetown.
The Frenchman said the rebels had ordered him to pass on their demand for negotiations with Nigerian-led West African troops pursuing the guerrillas. They said they would not release Espinosa until their demand was broadcast on radio.
There was no immediate comment from the Nigerian-led West African force, ECOMOG, which has retaken control of western and central districts of Freetown.