Rebels pushed further on Sunday into Liberia’s war-ravaged capital where they exchanged rounds of mortar and machine-gun fire with government troops, sending another wave of residents fleeing.
Rebels now control the port area and the northern part of the city in fighting that has seen tens of thousands of frightened refugees scurrying for shelter. Government gunmen were deployed on rooftops downtown.
Fighting appeared to be subsiding along two key bridges leading into downtown Monrovia from the port area, but rebels seemed to have opened another front that would allow them to approach downtown from the east.
The battles have quashed hopes that a quick deployment of international peacekeepers could prevent more bloodshed.
Angry Liberians have demanded to know what was keeping a peacekeeping force they hoped would be led by Americans.
”We hold George Bush responsible for this mess, he has refused to send troops here,” a member of Taylor’s elite anti-terror unit shouted as he manned a roadblock.
US President George Bush has repeatedly promised assistance to West African nations which have pledged to send 1 500 soldiers to enforce the often-violated cease-fire. But he says he is still deciding whether to send US troops to this country founded by freed American slaves.
Bush has tied deployment of American troops to Taylor’s departure.
As Monrovia residents grew increasingly anxious, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former Nigerian military ruler mediating Liberia peace negotiations in nearby Ghana, released a statement on Sunday calling for the end of fighting which he said was endangering the talks aimed at setting up a transitional government and new elections.
”The cessation of hostilities is crucial for the ongoing peace talks … which have reached a critical stage,” he said.
Seemingly endless columns of fleeing residents were again on the move on Sunday, balancing bundles of belongings on their heads and making their way through government checkpoints where bags and rolled-up mattresses were searched for hidden weapons.
In the northern suburb of New Georgia which was taken by rebels overnight, many fled. A woman who stayed behind cowered in her house with her children.
”We are inside praying,” she said in a telephone interview as the sound of gunfire reverberated in the background. She was too afraid to give her name.
”The bridges are being well defended so far,” said Taylor’s spokesperson Vaanii Paasawe referring to the two bridges leading into downtown, the scene of fierce fighting. ”Things are shifting fast. Shells are falling.”
Defence Minister Daniel Chea said more men had been sent to fortify the bridges.
Paasawe said Taylor was busy defending himself Sunday. ”It’s a
matter of life or death,” he said.
Officials from the rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or Lurd, said they were committed to a June 17 ceasefire, but proposed the ceasefire line should be moved to the Gabriel Tucker Bridge, in the city centre.
”We’re not trying to do a military takeover,” Joe Wyle, a Lurd official, said at peace talks in nearby Ghana. ”But we can help to speed things up. Since Taylor signed the cease-fire, he is running his mouth and amending his promises. We want to apply a little pressure on him. We want him to leave now.”
On Saturday, Taylor spoke from the balcony of his executive mansion overlooking the sea. He repeated his pledge to step down and accept asylum in Nigeria, but only after international peacekeepers arrive in sufficient numbers to prevent a chaotic
transition.
The warlord-turned-president vowed to ”fight street-to-street, house-to-house” until the rebels are defeated.
”I will never desert the city, I will never desert my people,” he said. ”I will stand and fight to the last man until they stop killing my own people.”
Meanwhile, heavy looting was reported in eastern neighbourhoods and the downtown area, including a hospital where communications equipment and vehicles were stolen.
John F Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia received about a dozen wounded on Sunday, all but one of them soldiers. One soldier died.
The French relief group Medecins Sans Frontiers saw 40 injured civilians and reported one death at their two health centres since Saturday night, said the organisation’s coordinator in Monrovia, Pierre Mendiharat.
He said a Liberian staff worker for the organisation was also killed late on Saturday when a mortar struck his home.
On Saturday, mortars slammed into the neighbourhood surrounding the US Embassy compound and a Liberian security guard there was shot and injured.
A building housing the Catholic-run Veritas radio station was also shelled.
US Ambassador to Liberia John W Blaney urged the rebels not to advance further into Monrovia and to refocus on peace talks in Ghana which seek to reach agreement on a transition government to oversee elections.
A French news photographer, Patrick Robert, was shot on Saturday in the chest and arm covering fighting at one of the bridges. Robert, who was on assignment for Time magazine, suffered life-threatening injuries, a spokesperson from the magazine said. Robert was reported to be in stable condition on Sunday, although he was still not well enough to be safely evacuated.
Rebels have grouped some foreigners into one house in the port area where they are being treated well, according to businessmen in the area who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The retreat of hundreds of militia fighters reflected growing unease within Taylor’s forces, many of them young men who say they fear being abandoned by the president.
But Taylor said, ”My men must understand now that I’m going no place, nowhere, until the international community has sufficiently deployed troops in this country.” – Sapa-AP