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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

LIBERIA: Continuing fighting threatens 60,000 in Bong County, MSF says

MONROVIA, 21 August 2003 (IRIN) - Clashes between Liberian government troops and rebels in central Bong County have continued despite a peace agreement signed in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Monday, threatening 60,000 displaced people, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said.

MSF said the displaced, living in Maimu, Totota, and Salala camps, were just 45 kilometers from the frontline.

"Displaced Liberians in Bong county have already been forced to flee as many as four times in the past two years alone, and now, when their health situation is especially dire, their safety is under threat again," Pierre Mendiharat, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) head of mission in Liberia said.

"If the fighting gets closer, we fear a mass displacement of civilians," he added.

Aid workers said the fighting was between government troops and some rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). Diplomats in Accra said LURD officials had said they had ordered their fighters in the field to ceasefire.

In the capital, Monrovia, United Nations humanitarian agencies were steadily increasing the numbers of their staff and quantities of relief supplies in Liberia, and were assessing whether areas outside Monrovia are now safe enough to conduct humanitarian work, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Meanwhile the Liberian parliament and judiciary were on Tuesday night massively looted by unidentified individuals who made away with vital documents of court proceedings from the Criminal and Supreme Courts, and furniture including doors and office equipment.

The two institutions are strategically located few yards away from the presidential palace and the police headquarters in Monrovia.

"The looting done here has caused a tremendous setback in the execution of legislative functions," a senior Liberian legislator, Willie Regland told IRIN.

Ignatius Weah, a court worker told IRIN: "This is the work of our government security, no rebel could know this building, no civilian will be brave to loot the Temple of Justice."

Both the present legislature and judiciary are dominated by supporters of former Liberian president Charles Taylor. Judiciary branches are to be dissolved to make way for interim bodies.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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