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Grissly fighting in Monrovia
22/07/2003 16:48 - (SA)
Alexandra Zavis
Monrovia - Desperate Liberians foraged for food and water during a lull in fighting in downtown Monrovia on Tuesday, while serious fighting raged in the port area as rebels against President Charles Taylor continued their push into the capital.
The battle for Monrovia showed no sign of abating on Tuesday, a day after a thunderous barrage of shells rained down on the city in the bloodiest fighting during the rebels' latest attempt to seize the capital that began two months ago.
Defence Minister Daniel Chea said the death toll from the grisly fighting on Monday was well over 600 people. There was no way to independently confirm the figure. Aid groups and hospitals have put the number of dead above 90, but say they expect the number to rise.
On Tuesday, fighting was focused in the port area as the sides exchanged heavy fire. Chea said rebels made another attempt to take control of two bridges leading from the port to the downtown area, but that government troops held them off.
Nigerian army Colonel Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu said West African chiefs of defence staff were meeting in Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday to finalise the composition and deployment schedule of a possible West African peacekeeping force.
'Possible option'
One "possible option", he said, was to divert to Liberia's capital a Nigerian mechanised infantry battalion of some 700 to 1 000 troops from Sierra Leone, where the soldiers have taken part in a 3 000-strong Nigerian deployment to the UN's Sierra Leone peacekeeping force.
Onwuamaegbu added that Nigeria-based troops could also be sent, stressing that "no final decision has been taken yet".
Meanwhile in downtown Monrovia, there was a lull in fighting although sporadic gunfire continued. People took the opportunity to go to streams and draw water and scout for food.
Residents, reported a sleepless night of intense looting by fighters.
On Monday, mortar barrages rocked residential neighbourhoods along with two US Embassy compounds.
American helicopters landed in the embassy compound on Monday, dropping off about half of a 41-member Marine security team. The troops, sent to beef up security at the embassy, evacuated about 23 foreign humanitarian workers and journalists. An American journalist was among the injured.
360 injured
During 2 1/2 hours of sustained mortar fire, a shell slammed into a US Embassy residential compound where some 10 000 terrified Liberians had taken refuge, killing 25 people, aid workers said. Many more were wounded, including two Liberian embassy guards. More than 360 people were injured.
Some 65 others were killed in other strikes.
On Tuesday, rain fell on the bodies, now covered in gray and blue plastic sheeting.
In a phone interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Taylor repeated his call for a promised West African peacekeeping force to arrive quickly to "bring some sanity" to Liberia torn apart by a decade of civil strife.
But Taylor said the best way to ensure stability was through US troops on the ground, in addition to the Marines guarding the US Embassy in the nation founded by freed American slaves. "An American contingent would be excellent."
Guns for diamonds
His defence minister said that if international community did not swiftly deploy peacekeepers then a UN arms embargo should be lifted.
The embargo was imposed to punish Taylor's regime for trading guns for diamonds with rebels in Sierra Leone.
He said if the government could freely get arms, the international community "would not have to deploy anybody. We are quite capable of defending our own people", he said.
US officials announced that 4 500 more American sailors and Marines have been ordered to position themselves closer to Liberia for an evacuation of Americans, peacekeeping or some other mission if needed.
Concerned
"We're concerned about our people," President George W Bush said in Crawford, Texas. He indicated he had not yet decided the size of a US force that might be sent to help a promised West African peacekeeping mission in Liberia.
The State Department criticised the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy for "reckless and indiscriminate shooting" and appealed to neighbouring African countries to guard against weapons going to Liberia.
Joe Wylie, a rebel delegate at peace talks in Ghana, said the Liberian government was also firing shells.
The rebels were "not responsible for shooting mortars into the embassy," Wylie said. "We have our backs to the US Embassy. ... They (government forces) were shooting at us."
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan once again urged Washington and West African states to commit troops.
"I think we can really salvage the situation if troops were to be deployed urgently and promptly," he said.
Strongest warlord
Taylor has pledged to resign and accept an offer of asylum in Nigeria - but only after peacekeepers arrive to ensure an orderly transition. But in his interview with the AP, he also hinted he might make other demands of Bush before agreeing to step down.
Bush has said any deployment of US troops is conditional on the departure of Taylor, a former warlord indicted for war crimes in Sierra Leone, where he supported a brutal rebel movement.
Taylor launched Liberia's last civil war in 1989, emerging in 1996 as the strongest warlord. He was elected president the following year, and now faces rebels who include former rivals from the earlier war.
- AP
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