Nigerian troops to Liberia
2003-07-23 18:40
Dakar - West African leaders have decided to send 1 300 Nigerian troops to war-torn Liberia on a date to be set next week, the head of the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) said on Wednesday.
"In view of the gravity of the situation in Liberia, we have decided to deploy two Nigerian battalions urgently to this country," said Mohamed ibn Chambas, the Ecowas executive secretary.
The decision came at the end of a two-day symposium on regional security that was dominated by the fighting in Liberia, where rebels have been trying to win control of the capital Monrovia and hundreds of civilians have been killed.
"The first battalion will come directly from Nigeria, and the second will leave from Sierra Leone, but the date of the deployment will be set next week in (the Sierra Leone capital) Freetown," Chambas said.
Ecowas foreign and defence ministers, as well as representatives of the international community, took part in the symposium, which was sponsored by the US state department at a time when Washington is under pressure to specify how it will fulfill a pledge to contribute to the force.
Chambas said the commander of the two battalions will go to Freetown on Thursday to discuss the logistics of deploying Nigerian troops based in Sierra Leone.
On Monday Nigeria said it was prepared to send 776 infantrymen to Liberia as soon as it received the go-ahead from regional leaders.
Ceasefire
But a spokeperson for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Tuesday the peacekeepers would not deploy until a stable ceasefire takes hold on the ground.
Ecowas had decided in principle early this month to send peacekeepers to Monrovia, where a unilateral rebel ceasefire reportedly called on Sunday failed to materialize.
Chambas had said at the start of the symposium here that it would be a chance to communicate Ecowas' logistical needs to the United States.
The White House has said US troops might be deployed if certain conditions are met, but spokesperson Scott McClellan said on Tuesday that no decision had been made.
The US embassy in Monrovia was hit by at least two mortar shells on Tuesday.