Thousands displaced in Lofa, NGOs say

Over 25,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Voinjama and Kolahun in upper Lofa County, according to a report from an interagency humanitarian assessment mission. The mission's findings are based on a one-day visit on 20 August to several villages in Zorzor district in the southeast of Lofa County, some 330 km northeast of Monrovia. Konia, a village about 50 km south of Voinjama, was the nearest the mission got to the scene of the fighting that broke out about two weeks ago in upper Lofa between government troops and armed dissidents who, the government said, invaded Liberia from Guinea. The mission reported that 7,000 displaced were in Voinjama district and 18,000 were in Zorzor. The team included representatives of several humanitarian organisations such as the Lutheran World Service, International Rescue Committee, Liberian Red Cross and the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission. See Item: irin-english-1461 titled 'IRIN Special Report on displacement in Lofa County' Lofa and surrounding counties on "full alert" Security forces in Lofa, Bong, Nimba and Grand Gedeh counties remain on full alert following the rebel invasion of Lofa, Information Minister Joe Mulbah told IRIN on Monday. However, he said it was "as quiet as a graveyard in Lofa". A mopping-up operation is continuing, but the situation is "under control", he said. A Star Radio correspondent in Nimba, which borders Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, said local authorities have advised residents to report any strange movements to security forces. Following President Charles Taylor's call just after the rebel invasion for able-bodied people to sign up and fight alongside government forces, former combatants are arriving at Sanniquellie and Ganta to volunteer for duty, Star reported on Saturday. Human rights group warns against arming "wrong people" However, a local human rights group has urged the government to be careful in recruiting militiamen, Star Radio reported on Friday. The Liberia Human Rights Watch (LHRW) said the warning was necessary to avoid giving arms to the wrong people. Defence Ministry to investigate reports of refugee deaths The Ministry of Defence has said it will investigate reports that Sierra Leonean refugees have died in the upheavals in Lofa, Star Radio reported on Friday. However, Cleophus Pearson, information officer of the Liberia Refugee, Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC), told IRIN on Monday that he received no reports of refugee deaths during a recent visit to Vahun and the road to Voinjama. He added that an assessment mission would go later this week to Kolahun to investigate the reports. Taylor asks for blood During a visit to the John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia on Friday, Taylor appealed to the public to donate blood to Liberian soldiers injured during the fighting in Lofa, the BBC reported on Friday. His appeal came shortly after doctors told him about blood shortages at the hospital. Taylor also announced that special salaries would be paid to soldiers fighting in Lofa and that the critically wounded would be flown abroad for treatment, the BBC said. Mulbah told IRIN on Monday that there were 11 or 12 injured soldiers in hospital in Monrovia who had been transported from Lofa County but he was unable to give any details of fatalities. Meanwhile, Taylor said on Friday that Chris Farley of the former Liberia Peace Council (LPC) and a commander of the former Ulimo K movement had been seen in the region, the BBC reported. Guinea reacts to Taylor's speech State radio in Conakry on Friday reported Guinea's foreign minister as saying Guinean territory would never serve as a rear base to destabilize a neighbouring country. His statement, made at a meeting in Conakry with heads of diplomatic missions and representatives of international institutions, came in reaction to allegations by the Liberian government that Guinea helped prepare and carry out armed attacks in Liberia. New police chief Taylor has appointed a former aide of an exiled civil war rival as his new director of police, news organisations reported on Sunday. Paul Mulbah, who was chief of protocol for Alhaji Kromah's Ulimo-K faction during the civil war, will replace Joe Tate who was killed in a plane crash on 10 August. Mulbah was previously head of the government procurement agency, the General Services Agency, news organisations reported.