US ‘concerned’ for four journalists held in Libya

The United States is “very concerned” for the well-being of four journalists who have been held in Libya for two weeks, the White House said Tuesday.

In reference to the four reporters missing in Libya, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that “we are very concerned but can’t go into detail,” in a post to the microblogging site Twitter.

“We’re working hard to assist them in any way we can,” Carney said, later confirming to AFP he was referring to the four reporters, two of whom are from the United States, one from Spain and the fourth from South Africa.

Clare Morgana Gillis, of the TheAtlantic.com, James Foley, a freelance reporter with GlobalPost.com, Spanish photographer Manu Brabo, and Anton Hammerl, a South African photographer, went missing on April 4 in eastern Libya.

Citing “several sources in Libya,” the online news site GlobalPost said last week that Tripoli had promised to free them soon.

Musa Ibrahim, the official spokesman for the government of Moamer Kadhafi, told the news outlet that the four journalists were detained by the Libyan military and will be treated correctly, transferred to Tripoli and freed.