* A mass meeting of Lofa citizens in Monrovia

By: Our Staff Reporter

The cities of Voinjama and Zorzor in Lofa County have been engulfed with violence resulting in the deaths of four people and the destruction of property, including the burning of churches, schools and a mosque.

Lofa County is located in the north-western tip of Liberia and has several tribes and religions. It was also one of the hardest hit areas during the country’s 14 years of civil war.

The incidence which occured Friday was sparked by the discovery of the body of an eleventh-grade female student named Korpu Kamara, who had gone missing for days and was found dead a few days later next to a mosque in Zorzor.

As a result, dozens of students staged a protest as they suspected that their colleague’s death may have been carried out by the Muslims, a situation that turned the protest into religious violence that left many churches and Christian schools burned.

The Superintendent of Lofa County, Galakpai Kortimai, told a local radio station Friday night that misinformation from Zorzor of a mosque being burnt down rapidly spread to Voinjama, which led angry Muslims to go on a rampage, reportedly burning down churches and Christian-run schools with the Catholic and Lutheran schools in the provincial capital being reportedly burnt down as well.

Further reports speak of shootings in the provincial capital by unknown men who used single barrel guns that led to the deaths of four men whose corpses were found with bullet wounds.

The situation in Lofa County has caused more attention to be drawn to the fragility of not just the county, but of Liberia as a whole following the end of the disarmament and demobilization processes, which many doubted ever yielded the intended result.

At the same time, troops from a specialized force of the Liberian National Police (LNP), the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), were airlifted from Monrovia to the violent area to help calm the situation along with stationed troops of the United Nations Mission In Liberia (UNMIL), who have come under strong criticism for the allegedly biased protection of mosques.

UNMIL, in a press release late Friday afternoon, stated it was aware of the situation and that UNMIL Formed Police Unit and military components were sent on the ground to assist the LNP in Voinjama, where the incident took place.

The UN Mission said that the troops will work in close coordination with the local county authorities and the security apparatus on the ground to keep the situation under control and UNMIL will contribute the necessary specialists to assist in the investigation of the incident.

Meanwhile, citizens of Lofa County residing in and around Monrovia Saturday staged a mass meeting in relation to the violence back in their county.

There were several suggestions made by citizens of the county, which resulted into the formation of two committees with the responsibilities of investigating what really transpired and soliciting funds to aid with the repairs of the damages. Lofa citizens during the meeting who were drawn from all tribal and religious sectors of the county agreed on ensuring that the committees are comprised of three representatives from each of the county’s seven administrative districts with one female and two males comprising each set.

Lofa county has recently been struck by several mysterious deaths, most of which are ritualistic.