Villagers versus logging concerns

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.