Call for UK report on missing French cameraman on second anniversary of disappearance

On the second anniversary today of the disappearance of French cameraman Fred Nérac in southern Iraq, Reporters Without Borders again called on Britain to hand over the full report of the British military police investigation into the case to the French authorities and to Nérac's family. "Fred Nérac's family is still waiting to find out exactly what happened to him - this is an unbearable situation," the press freedom organization said. "We reiterate our appeal to the British authorities to enable the family to obtain the answers to all of its legitimate questions." Reporters Without Borders said it urged the Iraqi authorities "to do as much as possible to assist the various parties involved in the investigation and to do everything in their power to help clear up this case." Recalling that the French foreign ministry recently reiterated its determination to shed light on Nérac's disappearance, the organization also called on the French government to pursue its diplomatic efforts in this case, as promised. Campaigning continues although two years have passed A solidarity event with music have been held at the Transbordeur nightclub in Lyons on the evening of 21 March in support of Nérac, French foreign correspondent Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi fixer Hussein Hanoun Al-Saadi (who were taken hostage in Iraq on 5 January) and French-Canadian freelance reporter Guy-André Kieffer (who disappeared in Côte d'Ivoire on 16 April 2004). The bands playing at the event were Le Peuple de l'Herbe et High Tone, Agoria, The Hacker, Kent, Les Têtes Raides, Loïc Lantoine, Gnawa Diffusion, Amélie-les-Crayons, I Love You, Cie Käfig, De Fakto and Sept en Si. Nérac's wife, Fabienne Nérac, Kieffer's wife, Osange Silou Kieffer, Aubenas's father Benoît Aubenas and Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard addressed the participants. Posters of Nérac and Kieffer have been hung in the Place de la Nation in Paris at 10:30 a.m. on 22 March at a ceremony attended by their families and by the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanöe. A committee to support Aubenas, Al-Saadi, Kieffer and was set up at the Lyons Press Club on 28 January. Background Nérac was part of a four-member crew with the British TV news network ITN covering the start of the war in Iraq. They were travelling in two vehicles that came under fire from both US and Iraqi forces near the city of Basra on 22 March 2003. British reporter Terry Lloyd was killed by gunfire while Belgian cameraman Daniel Demoustier was wounded. It was established from British military police enquiries begun in June 2003 that the fourth member of the crew, Lebanese interpreter Hussein Osman, was also killed at the place where the incident took place. DNA tests identified some of the remains of his body in June 2004. ITN said this tended to confirm an Iraqi source's claim that Nérac and Osman were detained and put aboard an Iraqi military pickup. At the same time, ITN said investigators found no trace of Nérac.