The Inquirer
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted April 26, 2004

In its desire to put a halt to the looting and vandalizing of its remainder assets after the cycle of fighting in the country, the management of the Liberia Mining Company(LIMINCO), recently concluded an assessment tour of its facilities around the country.

In an exclusive interview with our reporter, LIMINCO’s president S. Ciapha Gbollie Jr. said, his team toured the company’s facilities in the port city of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, and in Yekepa, Nimba County.

During the leg of the team’s tour in Buchanan, LIMINCO president Gbollie said, they held a meeting with the high command of the Movement of Democracy in Liberia(MODEL), whose forces and some civilian residents were blamed for the looting of the company’s facilities including the unroofing of some 50 housing units in the Loop, and the vandalizing of all the workshops and warehouses in the industrial area.
In Yekepa, Nimba County, the team held a series of meetings with the residents and the forces of the former Government of Liberia, to discourage the continued looting of the company’s facilities. They visited the border points at Areas ‘B’ and ‘F’, and spoke of the willingness on the side of the former GOL fighters to disarm.

Summarizing what has been achieved from their tour, LIMINCO’s prexy Gbollie said, he hoped their initiative would serve as an eye-opener to be emulated by other government entities to rapidly bring about decentralization, and also let the rural residents know that indeed a central government is fully in place.