Photographer Patrick Robert hospitalised in France

Patrick Robert, of the Sygma Corbis Agency on assignment for Time magazine, is being treated at the Percy Military Hospital in Clamart, near Paris. He was evacuated from Monrovia via Abidjan and arrived in Paris early on 25 July aboard a civilian medical aircraft. He is in satisfactory condition and doctors praised the Red Cross for their help. ------------------------------------- 24.07.2003 Wounded French photographer evacuated French photographer Patrick Robert was flown out of Monrovia on 23 July by a French military plane sent by officials of French forces currently stationed in Côte d'Ivoire. He was then transferred to a civilian medical plane and flown to Paris. Robert, of the Sygma Corbis agency, was working for Time magazine when he was seriously wounded in shooting on 19 July. He was operated on by Red Cross surgeons. ------------------------------------- 20.07.2003 French photographer seriously wounded in fighting Reporters Without Borders appealed today to all sides in the fighting in Liberia to avoid harming journalists after a French photographer, Patrick Robert, was seriously wounded in the chest and arm during clashes on 19 July between government and rebel forces on the outskirts of Monrovia. It called on President Charles Taylor's government and the rebel LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) to comply with the Geneva Conventions that protect civilians (including journalists) in war zones and noted that many Liberian journalists had been forced to flee the capital after being threatened by one side or the other. Robert, who was working for the US newsweekly Time and the Sygma Corbis photo agency, was given first aid at the US embassy and then transferred to Red Cross emergency services, who removed one of his kidneys and part of his intestines. He is still in in the unit of intensive care. Sygma Corbis told Reporters Without Borders he would be sent to Côte d'Ivoire as soon as he was well enough and when the security situation allowed. Top Liberian army officials claimed he was hit by rebel fire, but this could not be confirmed. Fierce fighting has raged in and around Monrovia for the past week and, according to the BBC, at least 500 civilians have been killed.