West African leaders flew into bloodied Liberia under heavy military guard on Friday, opening a mission to press warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor to step down as promised, and leave his war-ruined nation for exile.
A west African military reconnaissance team prepared on Thursday, amid fierce battles in the besieged Liberian capital Monrovia, to assess the situation ahead of the promised deployment of peacekeepers.
At least 1 500 Liberians held a peace rally on Wednesday in Monrovia to urge rebels occupying parts of the city not to retreat until international peacekeepers arrived, several witnesses said.
President Charles Taylor’s top military commander is all for foreign intervention to end the brutal civil war here but he warned of more war if he is not ”treated right” in a post-Taylor scenario.
Rebels fighting for control of the Liberian capital Monrovia on Tuesday declared a unilateral ceasefire and said it would go into effect immediately, a rebel delegate to peace talks in Accra said.
Rebels have captured Liberia’s second-largest city of Buchanan, defeating President Charles Taylor’s embattled forces on a new front and depriving him of his last significant port outside the besieged capital.
Insurgents attacked government forces on Monday in Liberia’s second-largest city, Buchanan, stepping up the war against President Charles Taylor’s forces on a second front, government forces and aid workers said.
West African, US and United Nations (UN) military representatives deliberated anew on Monday on a long-promised peace force for warring Liberia, as shelling persisted in the besieged capital and rebels and government forces battled for strategic bridges.
The rebel group besieging the Liberian capital Monrovia for the past week appears to have little political agenda beyond ousting President Charles Taylor, according to analysts.
A church packed with civilians turned into a slaughterhouse yesterday when fresh fighting between Liberian rebels and government forces rained shells on the capital Monrovia.
US sends troops to Liberia
At least 11 civilians were killed in an early morning attack on Friday on the diplomatic quarter of Liberia’s capital Monrovia, where the US embassy is situated, journalists reported.
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.
Liberia needs peacekeepers now
Shelling again rocked the devastated Liberian capital Monrovia on Wednesday with rebels fighting for control of a strategic bridge linking the key port area to the northeastern suburbs.
A breast-feeding baby, his back sliced with shrapnel wounds cries out for milk. His mother lies listlessly next to him with nothing to offer. Most of her chest has been blown off.
Brutal fighting and heavy shelling calmed in the war-wracked Liberian capital Monrovia late on Monday after day-long clashes killed dozens of people, possibly as many as 100, according to humanitarian sources. Intermittent gunfire was heard in the diplomatic quarter but no shells landed in the area after nightfall.
Liberia’s war-battered capital Monrovia was relatively calm on Monday although government troops were battling rebels in the key port area, as the United States ordered extra troops into the city.
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 renewed their assault on the Liberian capital, Monrovia, at the weekend, sending thousands of civilians fleeing and shattering the fragile ceasefire before peacekeepers arrive.
While negotiators approached a deadline for reaching a peace deal on Thursday there were reports of fighting less than an hour from the capital of this war-ravaged country founded by US slaves over a century ago.
Liberia’s embattled President Charles Taylor will step down in line with a peace formula to end a four-year civil war but is under ”tremendous pressure” not to go into exile, his spokesperson said on Wednesday.
They staggered out of jail as scarred stick figures. A few slumped on the pavement in exhaustion — too ill to show any emotion about their newfound freedom. One prisoner was so traumatised he no longer recognised his sister.
Liberian President Charles Taylor’s son, who commands the dreaded Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) presidential guard accused of sweeping human rights abuses and torture, has fled to South Africa, informed sources said on Wednesday.
President Charles Taylor said he is ready to step down ”in a jiffy” — but only after an international stabilisation force arrives to ensure an orderly transition in this war-divided country.
Liberia’s besieged President Charles Taylor Friday renewed a pledge to step down, but stressed he would only leave after an international peacekeeping force is deployed to his west African nation.
Liberia’s health minister on Thursday reported that between 200 and 300 civilians killed and 1 000 wounded in a two-day battle for the country’s besieged capital, and morgue workers described mortuaries filled to overflowing.
The main rebel group in Liberia has again pushed up to the doorstep of the capital Monrovia, after clashing with government troops in violation of a ceasefire signed last week, government sources said on Tuesday.
Thousands of displaced people in the war ravaged Liberian capital Monrovia were on Sunday still crammed in schools, public buildings and camps amid abysmal conditions with fears of a cholera epidemic.
Some 5 000 people on Thursday tried to leave Monrovia as a top humanitarian worker called for immediate distribution of food to tens of thousands living rough in the battle-scarred Liberian capital.
West African diplomats were due to arrive in the Liberian capital Monrovia on Tuesday on a mission to try to broker a truce for the war-shattered country, as the United States and other nations evacuated their citizens.
Liberian rebel fighters who have advanced to the suburbs of the capital Monrovia have asked the Italian Catholic community of Sant’Egidio to mediate in their war with President Charles Taylor, the community revealed late on Sunday.