Rebels release radio journalist

Update: April 17, 2006
Original Alert: April 12, 2006

Eliakim Vanambyl, FM Liberté
ABDUCTED

Rebel fighters in central Chad released Vanambyl, editor at the N’Djamena-based radio station FM Liberté, near the town of Mongo, where he was captured. Journalists in the capital told CPJ that the reasons behind Vanambyl’s abduction remained unclear.

Vanambyl was seized by members of the United Front for Change (known as the FUC) when the rebels briefly seized Mongo on April 11. The journalist was then taken into the bush when government forces pushed the FUC out of the town, the head of the Union of Chadian Journalists, Evariste Toldé, told CPJ. He was not mistreated while in captivity, local journalists said.

For more information on this case, see CPJ’s alert: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/africa/chad12apr06na.html