Information on the Lofa ethnic group could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. However, as discussed, information is provided below on the Loma ethnic group, which is found in Lofa County, Liberia.

According to The Encyclopedia of the Third World and Liberia: A Country Study, the Loma are one of sixteen tribal groupings recognized by the Liberian government (1992, 1122; 1985, 89). According to 1990 population data, there are 137,535 Loma in Liberia representing 5.3 per cent, of Liberia's total population of 2,595,000 (The Encyclopedia of the Third World 1992, 1121-22). Ethnologue: Languages of the World states, (using 1991 figures,) that there are 141,800 Loma speakers in Liberia (1992, 290). According to Liberia: A Country Study and Ethnologue, the traditional area of the Loma is the northwestern region of Liberia in Lofa County (1985, 93; 1992, 290). For additional information, including maps of the country, please consult the attachments.

Specific information on the current situation of the Loma is scarce among the sources consulted by the DIRB. According to a Reuters report cited by the UNHCR, Francis Massaguoi has been leading the Lofa Defence Force (LDF) in Lofa County in response to attacks on civilians by fighters of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO) (UNHCR Oct. 1994, 10). The New African reported in March 1995 that the LDF is of Lorma [sic] ethnicity and Christian religious orientation, and is supported militarily, economically and politically by Nigeria (Mar. 1995, 12). According to Ethnologue, Lorma is a variation of Loma (1992, 290).

Amnesty International reported in 1994 that 300 members of the Lorma ethnic group who opposed the ULIMO control of Voinjama, were allegedly executed in that town (197). Amnesty International also reported that "towns and villages were burned as ULIMO contested control of Lofa County in March [1993]" (ibid.). The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reported in February 1995 that relief efforts in the northwest of Liberia have been interrupted by "internecine ULIMO fighting, as well as ULIMO/LDF clashes" (3 Feb. 1995, 2). This fighting has practically rendered upper Lofa County "inaccessible since December 1993" (ibid.).

For general information on conditions in Lofa County during the past two years, please consult the chapter on Liberia in Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994 and Amnesty International Report 1994 available in Regional Documentation Centres.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Amnesty International. 1994. Amnesty International Report 1994. New York: Amnesty International USA.

Encyclopedia of the Third World. 1992. 4th ed. Vol. 2. Edited by George Thomas Kurian. New York: Facts on File.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1992. 12th ed. Edited by Barbara F. Grimes. Dallas, Tex.: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Liberia: A Country Study. 1985. 3rd ed. Edited by Harold D. Nelson. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army.

New African [London]. March 1995. No. 329. "Liberia on a Knife Edge."

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). October 1994. Background Paper on Liberian Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Geneva: UNHCR.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 3 February 1995. Situation Report No. 1. Liberia: Civil Strife. Washington, DC: USAID.

Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1992. 12th ed. Edited by Barbara F. Grimes. Dallas, Tex.: Summer Institute of Linguistics, pp. 288-90.

Liberia: A Country Study. 1985. 3rd ed. Edited by Harold D. Nelson. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army, pp. xx-xxi, 93, 292.