SEVEN ministers from the Economic community of West African States plan to hold a meeting in Lome on Thursday to discuss the situation in embattled northwestern Liberia. Togolese officials said the countries taking part will include Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo, whose government currently holds the ECOWAS presidency. The gathering is being billed as “an exploratory meeting” to discuss the crisis in Liberia’s Lofa County, where unidentified insurgents stormed several towns two weeks ago, engaging government troops, burning down homes and forcing an unknown number of Liberians and Sierra Leonean refugees to flee.