Washington — Reports from Sierra Leone say rebels have released most of about 35 people whom they took hostage last Wednesday. Among those abducted taken were UN observers, aid workers and journalists.

The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted a British Foreign Office official as saying he hoped the remaining hostages would be freed within the next day or two.

There are fears that the stand-off will jeopardize a cease-fire that was signed last month between the government of President Tejan Kabbah and the Revolutionary United Front rebels led by Foday Sankoh. The accord is aimed at ending an eight-year war that has claimed tens of thousands of civilian victims. Scores of other men, women and children have been left maimed. Their hands, feet, arms or legs were severed as part of a terror campaign waged by the guerrilla fighters.

Nigerian-led West African peacekeepers are working to maintain the peace in conjunction with the Organisation of African Unity and the Economic Community of West African States. The hostage-takers, who at one time were under the command of former military leader Johnny Paul Koroma, complain that they were not adequately represented in the peace agreement. The rebels were to have handed over 150 civilians as part of the ongoing peace process; instead they took hostages. They are demanding food and medical supplies, as well as the release of Koroma, whom they believe is a prisoner.

The war in Sierra Leone spilled over from the conflict in neighboring Liberia. It has left vast areas of the country under the control of roving bands of gunmen whom are to be disarmed as part of the peace agreement. The struggle for diamonds has been a centerpiece to much of the fighting.