August 11, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-us-Sani 12, 1424

NEW DELHI, Aug 10: Students at a New Delhi college have been praying for the safety of two special classmates, Liberian President Charles Taylor’s daughters, it was reported on Sunday.

Blossom Anastasia Neypon, 22, and Avenette Tenema Sirleaf, 21, have been studying at the Lady Shri Ram College since July 2001, through a scholarship program of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.

The sisters did not return from vacation when the semester started recently and college authorities said they have had no news of them, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

Their political science professor, Krishna Menon, said, “It is very sad that the situation back home may not allow them to come back and complete their degrees.” Taylor’s daughters are in the last year of their bachelor of arts degree program in English, history and political science.

Students said the girls created quite a stir on campus with their unusual hairstyles. “In spite of the 1,800-odd girls in college, you cannot miss them. Everything about them is so bubbly and colourful,” said an article about them in the college magazine.

Diana Kartumba, a classmate from Uganda, is confident they will return. “They never wanted attention because of who or what their father is. They are in Liberia and will come to India soon,” she said.

In June, the United Nations war crimes tribunal for Sierra Leone issued an indictment against Taylor. For more than two months, rebels campaigning for his ouster have besieged the capital Monrovia.

Taylor has said he would turn over power on Monday and depart Liberia for Nigeria, where he has been promised asylum.—dpa