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Kidnapped villagers still missing inside Liberia

    ABIDJAN

    Twenty Sierra Leonean villagers abducted on 16 July by members of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group are still missing, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Activities (OCHA) reported on Friday.

    Fifteen of the Sierra Leoneans were taken from the village of Kolu, along with two people from Sanga and three from Manduvuluhun, by a group of 35 to 40 LURD fighters in possession of small arms and a rocket launcher, OCHA stated in its August situation report.

    The three villages are located in Kailahun District, which borders eastern Liberia. The district also hosts at least 33,576 Liberian refugees in six camps.

    "The group rounded up the villagers and took 31 hostages with them. Three managed to escape," OCHA reported.

    "Their captors were originally thought to be AFL [the Armed Forces of Liberia], but it is now clear that their captors are LURD or a LURD-affiliated militia group from the Liberian village of Masambulahun, Lofa County," it said.

    "The abducted range in age from two to 62 years," OCHA added.

    Liberia's Lofa County - which borders Sierra Leone and Guinea - has been plagued since 1998 by fighting between Liberian government forces and the LURD.

    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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