| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
ABIDJAN, 19 August 1999 (IRIN) - The Liberian Information Minister, Joe Mulbah, told IRIN on Thursday that the government is in control of all the main towns in Lofa County except Voinjama.
"We are crushing the rebellion and the situation in Voinjama is significantly under control. A mopping up operation is underway" he said. He confirmed earlier reports this week that retreating rebels were conducting a scorched earth policy.
"Heavily armed men with weapons such as RPG's (rocket propelled grenades) are retreating towards Guinea and burning surrounding villages," Mulbah said. The Defence Minister, Daniel Chea, flew by helicopter to the front line in Voinjama on Thursday morning to assess the situation there, he added.
Civilians and refugees move south
According to Mulbah the districts of Zorzor and Salayea have been flooded with refugees and civilians fleeing the fighting. The BBC reported on Thursday that the Sierra Leone embassy in Liberia has asked the UN to investigate reports that refugees had been shot and were suffering acute food shortages. The Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission told IRIN on Wednesday that some 11,000 civilians had arrived in the town of Zorzor and that it was currently conducting an assessment mission there.
Situation in Vahun calm, UNHCR compound looted
According to reports sent to UNHCR in Abidjan the situation in Vahun was "calm" although there was concern that since the evacuation of UNHCR staff at the weekend there was no-one there to monitor the situation. Vahun hosts some 12,000 Sierra Leonean refugees who fled to Liberia in early 1998.
For the second time since the evacution, the head of the UNHCR office returned to Vahun by helicopter on Wednesday and reported that everything had been looted in the UNHCR compound except for the base radio, the generator and a refridgerator.
Some 13 UNHCR vehicles have also been looted, 10 from Vahun, including two that were transferred from Kolahun, and three from Voinjama.
There were unconfirmed reports that looting was carried out in Voinjama and Kolahun by the invading forces, who call themselves the Joint Forces of Liberation for Liberia (JFFL), by members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) who crossed over from Sierra Leone and also by Liberian armed personnel. The north-western region of Liberia is an insecure and volatile region close to the borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea, where several dissident groups and factions are based.
The Liberian government has said that the invading dissidents came from Guinea. The Guinean government has denied this and any involvement in the situation.
The UNHCR said its priority now was to have high-level meetings in Liberia between the United Nations, the Liberian authorities and NGOs to define the next course of action. The UNHCR Regional Director for West Africa, Abou Moussa, is to travel there on Monday.
[ENDS]
[IRIN-WA: Tel: +225 217366 Fax: +225 216335 e-mail: irin-wa@ocha.unon.org ]
Item: irin-english-1446
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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