Curfew lifted in Harper two weeks after riots

The Liberian government has lifted a dusk-to-dawn curfew that was imposed two weeks ago on the southeastern port town of Harper following riots sparked off by a suspected outbreak of ritual killings, Information Minister William Allen said on Tuesday. He said the curfew was lifted on Monday following an improvement in security in Harper, the provincial headquarters of Maryland County. “The decision to lift the curfew was based on recommendations given to the chairman of the Liberia National Transitional Government... by a joint UN and Liberian government security assessment team that had just returned from Harper," Allen told IRIN. A crowd of angry youths armed with sticks and metal bars went on the rampage in Harper on the weekend of 22 to 23 January following the arrest of three murder suspects in the nearby town of Pleebo. The mob stormed Harper police station and seized the three men who were suspected of killing people to get body parts for magic ceremonies. Two of the men were badly beaten up; the third disappeared. Allen said investigations into the cause of the riot were continuing. Maryland is one of the 13 counties of Liberia which have so far been declared safe for the resettlement of refugees and people who were internally displaced within the country during the 1989-2003 civil war. However, the UN refugee agency UNHCR suspended it plans to transport people back there following the January riots in Harper.