If you are a Liberian residing in the U.S. or elsewhere outside Liberia and you rely on postal mail service to communicate with your friends and relatives in Liberia, then the possibility exists that you may no longer be able to do so, at least through direct mail exchange with the Liberian Postal Service.

Reports indicate that as a result of the Liberian government's inability to meet its financial obligation to Universal Postal Union, the Pan African Postal Union as well as carriers such as Ghana Airways and KLM Dutch Airline, an embargo has been placed on mails pick-ups in and dropouts to Liberia.

It is not clear what Liberia's outstanding arrears are to the two international postal organizations and the airliners, but it is said that Liberia's current arrears to KLM alone total some $250,000 in carrier fees, and over $50,000 to Ghana Airways. And, as a result, KLM has instructed Ghana Airways not to pick up mails on its behalf from Monrovia during Ghana Airways' weekly flight to Liberia.

And sadly for persons in Liberia who mailed out letters or packages to friends and relatives abroad in the last two months using the Liberian Postal Service, your mails and packages have been stocked-up in Ghana for the whole time and were never forwarded to the intended recipients. The mails have since been returned to Monrovia because of the embargo by the international postal carriers, and you would do well to retrieve your mails and packages from your local post office as soon as possible.

"If it is not one thing, it is another; Taylor is really a bad lucky President," says a Liberian lady, upon hearing the news that most international airlines were boycotting Liberian postal services for non-payment of carrier fees.