French reporters missing

2004-08-22 08:25

Paris - Two French journalists in Iraq have not been heard from for two days, their editors said onSaturday, expressing concern for their fate.

The correspondents with Radio France Internationale (RFI) and the Paris daily newspaper Le Figaro had last checked in on Thursday, their managements said.

A joint statement by the two news organisations said they were "concerned about their correspondents Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, both on assignment in Iraq, who had not reported in since last Thursday evening".

The two are seasoned Iraq specialists who in January 2003 jointly published a book in France called The Iraq of Saddam Hussein in which they criticised what they said was the failure of Western powers to understand Iraq.

Concern has meanwhile been growing about the disappearance of an Italian journalist in Iraq.

The Milan newspaper Diario said on Saturday its correspondent Enzo Baldoni, likewise missing since Thursday, was probably the victim of a kidnapping in which his driver was killed.

Baldoni, 56, had set out Thursday to reach Najaf with the aim of obtaining a personal interview with radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, a colleague was quoted as saying.

- AFP