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Villagers versus logging concerns

[Togo] An opposition supporter brandishes a machete in a street demonstration in Lome on the final day of Togo's presidential election campaign in April 2005. IRIN
Un militant de l'opposition brandissant une machette pendant la campagne électorale
    LOMÉ

    The independent Star Radio on Tuesday reported parliamentarians from Maryland County on Liberia's border with Cote d'Ivoire as saying that fighting there between local residents and two logging companies had killed two people and injured many others.

    The clashes took place in the district of Barrobo and, according to the chairman of the Maryland County legislative caucus, Senator Lomax Cox, five villages were burnt, Star Radio said.

    Cox said an investigation would be conducted into the matter. Officials of the logging companies and the Forestry Development Authority have been summoned by the caucus, which will review the companies' concession agreements, Star Radio reported Cox as saying.

    According to the radio station, people in Barrobo are demanding that the two companies, the Liberia Lumber and Wood Processing Company and the Togba Timber Company, fulfil promises made to them.

    They claimed the companies promised to rehabilitate roads, and build a guest house and an administrative building in Barrobo.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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