Former deputy minister disappears

The whereabouts of Liberia’s former deputy minister of information, Milton Teahjay, remain a mystery following his disappearance on Friday, according to media and humanitarian sources. One of a number of opposition politicians President Charles Taylor had drafted into his cabinet, Teahjay had been a vocal advocate of the government in international capitals, a humanitarian source told IRIN. However, he lost his post last year and was appointed media consultant to Taylor. In March he organised demonstrations in his home county, Sinoe, against a logging company, which residents of the southeastern county have accused of neglecting its development while stripping its forests, the humanitarian source said. When the demonstrations led to similar protests in neighbouring Grand Gedeh and Nimba counties, Teahjay was dismissed as media consultant to the president for “acts inimical to state security”, the source added. He tried to leave the country in the company of his brother but was turned back by immigration officials. His brother said they returned to Monrovia and went separate ways. Since then neither he nor Teahjay’s wife has seen the former minister. Doubts about his fate have been fuelled by apparently conflicting information from the state. According to the humanitarian source, Taylor said on Friday on his return home from a trip to Taiwan that he had learnt that someone who had been causing problems for the government had been arrested, and that more details would be given later. However, police chief Paul Mulbah said later that Teahjay had not been arrested and that he was not wanted by the authorities.