Humanitarian crisis deepens

2003-07-24 14:00

Monrovia - Rebels battling for control of Monrovia were pushing on Thursday towards the city centre as the humanitarian crisis deepened in the Liberian capital after nearly a week of fighting.

"We're defending our positions on three bridges: Stockton Creek, Johnson and Old Bridge," Defence Minister Daniel Chea said, naming three flashpoints that were also the focus of fighting on Wednesday.

"There's a very thin line between our forces and theirs," he said.

The capture of the Stockton Creek Bridge would enable the rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to link up with comrades who seized the city's Atlantic seaport on Saturday.

It would also give them access to the airport on the other side of the city, to the east, while Johnson and Old Bridges lead into the city centre.

Meanwhile international aid agencies continued to sound the alarm over dwindling food and water supplies in the besieged capital of the west African country.

"Efforts under way to control a major crisis in nutrition are blocked by the insecurity which is stopping people gaining access to humanitarian aid," Action Contre la Faim (ACF - Action Against Hunger) said in Paris.

"It is practically impossible to move about in the city to help the wounded, secure water supplies or stop the deterioration of the food situation," ACF said in a statement.

British aid agencies issued a joint statement late on Wednesday in which they called for the urgent deployment of international peacekeepers to the war-torn country.

Hundreds have died within days, and thousands more have been displaced, in the latest clashes pitting troops loyal to President Charles Taylor against Lurd forces.

The rebels, who control about four-fifths of the country, on Tuesday refused to sign a west African-brokered peace pact to end Liberia's ruinous four-year civil war.

Meanwhile the international community has dithered over offers to send troops to Liberia.

West African leaders on Wednesday said they would send 1 300 Nigerian troops "urgently", but the date of the deployment will not be set until next week.

"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, head of the regional Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

Ecowas has planned eventually to deploy 3 000 troops in Liberia, but Chambas said on Tuesday that at least 5 000 would be required.

The United States has pledged to contribute to the force but has yet to make a specific commitment, sparking growing anger on the part of ordinary Liberians, many of whom are descendants of freed American slaves who founded the west African country in the 19th century.

State department spokesperson Richard Boucher said in Washington on Wednesday: "This is still something that we're working on very actively within the administration, as well as with the west Africans."

US secretary of state Colin Powell acknowledged in an interview published on Wednesday: "We do have a historic link to Liberia, and we do have some obligation as the most important and powerful nation on the face of the earth not to look away when a problem like this comes to us."

The Pentagon said on Monday it had ordered 4 500 US troops to prepare for possible deployment to Liberia. They were being sent from the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, where they could sail to Liberia in as little as seven to 10 days.

The US embassy in Monrovia was hit by at least two mortar shells on Tuesday, and so far only a few dozen US forces are in the country, mainly to protect the embassy and other US interests.

- AFX