LIBERIA: Ex-fighters drop studies as money runs out

Nearly 1,000 former fighters have dropped out of Liberian universities because the cash-strapped government stopped paying their fees as promised, ex-fighters' representatives said, threatening a society trying to recover from a bloody civil war. Jonathan Paye-Layleh writes for the Associated Press that Education minister Joseph Korto said the government cannot pay tuition for some 1,600 ex-combatants because of unspecified "budgetary constraints".

Earlier this month, he sent a letter to universities asking them to allow the ex-fighters to continue studying. The letter said the government would pay the universities back later.

Advocates for former fighters say the government stopped footing the tuition bill in 2008 and has failed to account for some $77 million worth of donations given since 2004 to the UN Development Programme to assist with tuition and various multi-million-dollar donations from other nations. Korto did not explain the source of the budgetary constraints or account for the donations.
Full report on The Washington Post site