Fighters from Liberia’s largest rebel group have run riot in the town of Tubmanburg, north-west of the capital, to protest at a plan to remove Finance Minister Luseni Kamara from office, reports reaching Monrovia said on Wednesday.
A group of leaders of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) decided at the weekend to replace Kamara with Director General of the Cabinet Soko Sackor.
On Tuesday, Lurd fighters rampaged in Tubmanburg, waving automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and chanting ”No Luseni, no disarmament”.
Unless the decision to remove Kamara was reversed, the disgruntled rebel fighters threatened to reoccupy areas they once controlled but which are now under control of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (Unmil).
”We did not know what was happening. First, we thought it was Unmil trying their weapons until we saw some boys with red headbands rushing uptown from all directions, shouting and cursing,” a market vendor who was in Tubmanburg said on Wednesday.
She said it took almost a day before the Pakistani contingent of Unmil deployed in the area and brought the riot under control.
Sporadic fighting has continued between the three warring factions in Liberia — Lurd, the smaller Movement for Democracy in Liberia rebel group and the armed forces of former president Charles Taylor — despite a ceasefire and peace pact in place since August, when Taylor stood down and went into exile.
Unmil deployed across the country to disarm the three sides and help them return to civilian life.
But poor planning and inadequate resources forced officials to abort the December launch of a $50-million disarmament effort, after a tumultuous week that left 10 people dead in the capital, Monrovia.
Aid agencies travelling to Tubmanburg, which lies about 60km northwest of Monrovia, on Tuesday were turned back because of the unrest, and sellers in Tubmanburg market abandoned their wares and fled for safety.
Lurd commanding general Ophorie Diah, who helped bring the situation under control, stressed the need for Lurd appointees in the government occasionally to visit the fighters and assure them all would be well after disarmament.
”The fighters are not concerned much about cash and training benefits. They need to be encouraged and assured that things will be fine with them. What we see is that political appointees have abandoned the fighters and are seen riding big cars in Monrovia,” Diah said.
Unmil spokesperson Margaret Novicki confirmed the unrest in Tubmanburg but said Unmil troops had restored order.
She said Unmil brought the situation under control following discussions with Lurd commanders.
Novicki said no one died during the shooting incident. She said the Pakistani Unmil commander in the area warned the Lurd fighters not to repeat what happened on Tuesday — and to learn to present their grievances in an orderly manner. — Sapa-AFP