Monrovia, April 4 -- The ministry, which supervises adoption agencies and orphanages in the country, took the decision against the agency, Americans for Africans Adoptions, this week - close to a year after a police investigation found that "child physical abuse was perpetrated by their immediate caretakers" and that the agency had "deliberately failed" to respond to the alleged abuses. The investigation was sparked by a complaint from staff at the US embassy in Monrovia more than a year ago.

The police investigation report was completed in May last year. An arrest warrant was not issued until November but there was no action taken at the time. Asked why the ministry is acting now, Mr. Webster Cassell, a communications specialist at the ...