Liberia: UN concerned about safety of abducted aid worker

The United Nations has voiced increasing concern at the fate of a humanitarian worker missing in Liberia following the recent release of three of his colleagues who had also been abducted by an armed group of men.

The four employees of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) were among a large group of relief workers from international aid agencies seized by unidentified combatants last Thursday following a rebel attack in Zwedru on a transit camp for 6,000 refugees who had fled violence in Côte d'Ivoire.

"The abductors told the released WFP aid workers their colleague would be freed on Saturday, but by Monday morning we still had no news about any such release," the WFP country director in Liberia, Justin Bagirishya, said yesterday. "As time goes by, we are growing increasingly concerned about his safety."

The four workers, Wilfred Tokpah, David Pewee, Solomon Fayiah and Velicious Moulton, are Liberian nationals. Early last Friday all but Mr. Moulton, established radio contact confirming they had been released. The group crossed the border into Côte d'Ivoire and eventually reached the agency's sub-office in the west of the country.