wfn.org | International support for Liberian government needed

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

LWF World Service helps farmers to buy livestock, seeds

GENEVA, 30 April 1998 (lwi) - International financial support is needed for
the Liberian government, according to field representative of the Lutheran
World Federation Department for World Service (LWF-WS) in Liberia, Reinhard
Tietze. Donor countries and related agencies, so far, have channeled
financial support for the rebuilding of the West African country mainly
through some 35 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) represented in
Liberia, not including the Liberian government.

This imbalance will lead, sooner or later, to political unrest, warned
Tietze in an interview with Lutheran World Information: "The government
needs financial support to be in equal partnership with the NGOs. If no
international support for the Liberian government is forthcoming, this
could have a negative effect on the NGOs."

After seven years of civil war in Liberia, conditions, in general, are
"better than expected" the LWF representative says. But the situation could
come to a head unless a solution is found for the half a million displaced
persons in the capital, Monrovia. The government has closed emergency
shelters and stopped its food aid to motivate the people to return to their
villages.

This is a crucial time because the fields have to be cultivated before the
rains set in. For this reason, the LWF-WS is using funds from the European
Union (EU) to support an agricultural program in the country's southeast.
Originally, 12,000 farmers were to be given the chance of a new beginning,
but since then, according to Tietze, their number has risen to 18,000. The
agricultural program provides farmers with livestock and seeds to make a
start and advocates an ecologically sustainable approach to farming.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/