Liberia paralysed by chronic fuel shortage

Liberia is marking one month since a chronic petrol shortage hit the country.

The streets are generally deserted - petrol stations are the only busy places and some crammed with vehicles waiting in the hope that some fuel may arrive.

People are staying away from work and students are not going to school because of the absence of public transport.

At first the authorities blamed hoarding for the scarcity.

But private fuel importers, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said that the shortage has been caused by the government’s decision to take stocks from their reserves at the port in the capital, Monrovia, without replacing them.

Commerce Minister Wilson Tarpeh has denied this.

His colleague Information Minister Eugene Nagbe called for calm on Thursday, saying a big consignment of fuel was due soon.

Monrovia’s port was being dredged to allow the berthing of bigger petroleum vessel after which shortages would be a thing of the past, he said.

A private fuel firm has had to send to neighbouring Sierra Leone to ask for stocks to bring some relief to Monrovia residents.