/ 13 May 1999

LIBERIANS STEAL AID

RESIDENTS in a northern Liberian town looted more than 30 tons of rice seeds and stole thousands of agricultural tools stocked by an international agency, aid officials said on Wednesday. The Lutheran World Service said residents of Bopolu, some 90km north of Monrovia, burglarised its warehouses a fortnight ago “in the presence of military and police personnel” assigned to the town. The NGO said a second looting took place about a week ago in nearby Totoquelleh, where villagers again stormed the LWS warehouse and made away with hundreds of agriculture tools, several bags of rice seeds and educational materials.