Dozens Held by Sierra Leone Rebels Freed

At least 46 United Nations peacekeepers were freed Friday by Sierra Leonean rebels and sent to neighboring Liberia, and officials there said more were on the way.

U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said the latest releases raised expectations that the monthlong hostage crisis, which has rocked the troubled peacekeeping mission, was drawing to a close. “We are cautiously optimistic that this will be resolved in the very near future,” Wimhurst said here.

Reports from Monrovia, the Liberian capital, said an additional 62 U.N. soldiers had been released and were en route. Another report placed the number at 134. Wimhurst could not immediately clarify the discrepancy or confirm the reports.

With the arrival of the 46 peacekeepers in Monrovia, 208 troops were still in the hands of the Revolutionary United Front, or RUF, the rebel movement that has been battling with the government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Liberian President Charles Taylor, a longtime supporter of the RUF, has been brokering the hostage releases.

Meanwhile, the world organization said it is all but certain that the remains of about half a dozen people in U.N. uniforms are those of slain Zambian and Nigerian peacekeepers. The corpses were found Monday near Rogberi Junction, about 55 miles northeast of Freetown, the capital.

Wimhurst said there was a clash between peacekeepers and RUF soldiers at Rogberi Junction on May 6. Since then, four Zambian and two Nigerian peacekeepers from the area have been reported missing. Identity cards of four Zambians and two Nigerians were found near the remains.