Thousands loot rebel-held port
2003-08-13 16:54
Monrovia - Thousands of Liberian civilians on Wednesday stormed Monrovia's port and looted warehouses for food, but most fled after rebels who control the area fired shots into the air.
Mobs pillaged the warehouses and left carrying sacks of maize and other staple foods on their heads, in the key area which has been under rebel control for weeks, an AFP reporter saw.
A commander from the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) rebels in the area, who identified himself as "K One", told AFP: "There has been looting in the warehouses.
"(We) tried to push them back, but we cannot kill them. That would be a violation of human rights," he said, explaining why his gunmen were firing into the air.
Thousands began the looting in the morning, AFP witnessed, but by noon (12:00 GMT) the number of civilian ransackers had slimmed down to a few hundred.
Ezekia Sayde, a 17-year-old who was carrying a sack of maize, said: "I am taking this bag because I am too hungry."
The rebels have agreed to open the port, a gateway to resolving the humanitarian crisis in the devastated capital, at noon on Thursday.
At their own risk
Lurd deputy secretary general Sekou Fofana said he had taken steps to stop the pillaging.
"Civilians are taking the food of their own free will. We are against that. They are entering the backyard of the port on their own risk," he told AFP.
"We have now deployed security there, which will stay there until 12:00 tomorrow afternoon when we will hand over the Bushrod Island and the port to peacekeeping force," he added.
Earlier in the day, an AFP reporter saw looters smashing open a giant warehouse stacked with thousands of bags of corn and cornmeal donated by the US governmental agency USAID and the UN World Food Programme.
In the afternoon, heavily armed rebels, including women fighters, patrolled the port with AK-47 assault rifles.
Weeks of fighting in Monrovia has displaced about 450 000 people, who are living rough amid a crippling shortage of food, fuel, water and medicines.
But the city's rebel-held northern zone has much more food than in the government-controlled south, thanks to the food warehouses in the port.
Supplies waiting
Meanwhile, a UN ship carrying food and medicines arrived off the coast of Monrovia and was ready to move into the war-ravaged city, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Carolyn McAskie said on Wednesday.
"We have a ship off the coast that is ready to move in," McAskie told reporters after touring the capital to assess the humanitarian situation.
The vessel is the first humanitarian supply ship to dock off Monrovia after UN international workers pulled out of the city amid heavy fighting in June.
"On board the ship there are some foodstuffs like high-energy biscuits and some medicines," McAskie said.
"The ship will also provide security for our staff and sleeps 27 people and the crew," she said.