thedrifter
07-21-03, 08:52 AM
U.S. military sends 41 Marines to protect Embassy in Liberia
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
The Associated Press
7/21/03 7:19 AM
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- The U.S. military sent 41 Marines to reinforce security at the American Embassy in Liberia's war-shattered capital, frustrating Liberians who want U.S. forces to play a broader role enforcing peace.
The contingent, from the Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team, departed from Rota, Spain overnight, Maj. Bill Bigelow, a spokesman at European Command in Stuttgart, Germany said Monday.
Monrovia residents, meanwhile, emerged after another night hunkered down in basements seeking safety from the most recent round of fighting in an all-out battle for Liberia's war-ruined capital between rebels and government troops.
Liberians clustered on street corners, listening to the news of the American deployment on hand-held radios.
"The coming of additional American troops is important," said Moses Smith, 32, who was among those listening out on the street. "But what we need is not those just coming to mind American property, but those who will be deployed on the ground to give us the feeling that peace is really coming."
Liberians are weary after 14 years of bloody turmoil. Many say they won't be satisfied that stability is possible until U.S. peacekeepers land in the country, founded more than a century ago by freed American slaves.
Warlord-turned-President Charles Taylor has pledged to resign and accept an offer of asylum in Nigeria -- but only after peacekeepers arrive to ensure an orderly transition.
President Bush has set Taylor's departure as a condition to sending U.S. troops.
West African nations are planning to send more than 1,500 soldiers to enforce the often-violated June 17 cease-fire. But with peacekeepers yet to arrive, Taylor has vowed to fight for Monrovia, his only remaining stronghold.
Liberians say they are fed up.
"We hold George Bush responsible for this mess," shouted a member of Taylor's elite Anti-Terrorist Unit as throngs of civilians hurried through his checkpoint Sunday.
Rebels pounded the city with mortars and pushed deeper into the northern suburbs Sunday before being repelled by government forces into the port area. The fighting, which continued into the night, sent a new wave of terrified residents fleeing with bundles of possessions balanced on their heads. The casualty toll was not clear.
In Washington, the State Department called for an immediate cease-fire by all parties and a focus on continuing peace talks in Ghana aimed at setting up a unity government to oversee fresh elections.
"Liberia's path to peace is through the multiparty peace talks," State Department deputy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said Sunday. "We also ask the leaders of West Africa to use their influence and leverage to prevent further violence, by controlling their borders and not allowing the flow of weapons into Liberia."
Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former Nigerian military ruler mediating peace negotiations in Ghana, also appealed for an end to the fighting.
Officials for the rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy insisted they were only trying to pressure Taylor to step down.
"We're not trying to do a military takeover," LURD delegate Joe Wylie said in 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."
By Sunday afternoon, French medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, had received one dead and about 90 injured civilians. A Liberian staffer also was killed when a mortar struck his home Saturday night.
The British aid group Merlin treated 30 more civilians, while the city's main John F. Kennedy hospital received more than 60 wounded, most of them soldiers. One soldier died, hospital officials said.
An International Committee of the Red Cross trauma unit in Monrovia said it has treated 100 seriously wounded patients, mostly civilians.
Taylor launched Liberian's last civil war in 1989, emerging in 1996 as the country's strongest warlord. He was elected president the following year, and now faces rebels who include former rivals from the earlier war.
A U.N.-backed tribunal has indicted him on war crimes for supporting Sierra Leone's notoriously brutal rebels.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0477_BC_Liberia
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS
The Associated Press
7/21/03 7:19 AM
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- The U.S. military sent 41 Marines to reinforce security at the American Embassy in Liberia's war-shattered capital, frustrating Liberians who want U.S. forces to play a broader role enforcing peace.
The contingent, from the Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team, departed from Rota, Spain overnight, Maj. Bill Bigelow, a spokesman at European Command in Stuttgart, Germany said Monday.
Monrovia residents, meanwhile, emerged after another night hunkered down in basements seeking safety from the most recent round of fighting in an all-out battle for Liberia's war-ruined capital between rebels and government troops.
Liberians clustered on street corners, listening to the news of the American deployment on hand-held radios.
"The coming of additional American troops is important," said Moses Smith, 32, who was among those listening out on the street. "But what we need is not those just coming to mind American property, but those who will be deployed on the ground to give us the feeling that peace is really coming."
Liberians are weary after 14 years of bloody turmoil. Many say they won't be satisfied that stability is possible until U.S. peacekeepers land in the country, founded more than a century ago by freed American slaves.
Warlord-turned-President Charles Taylor has pledged to resign and accept an offer of asylum in Nigeria -- but only after peacekeepers arrive to ensure an orderly transition.
President Bush has set Taylor's departure as a condition to sending U.S. troops.
West African nations are planning to send more than 1,500 soldiers to enforce the often-violated June 17 cease-fire. But with peacekeepers yet to arrive, Taylor has vowed to fight for Monrovia, his only remaining stronghold.
Liberians say they are fed up.
"We hold George Bush responsible for this mess," shouted a member of Taylor's elite Anti-Terrorist Unit as throngs of civilians hurried through his checkpoint Sunday.
Rebels pounded the city with mortars and pushed deeper into the northern suburbs Sunday before being repelled by government forces into the port area. The fighting, which continued into the night, sent a new wave of terrified residents fleeing with bundles of possessions balanced on their heads. The casualty toll was not clear.
In Washington, the State Department called for an immediate cease-fire by all parties and a focus on continuing peace talks in Ghana aimed at setting up a unity government to oversee fresh elections.
"Liberia's path to peace is through the multiparty peace talks," State Department deputy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said Sunday. "We also ask the leaders of West Africa to use their influence and leverage to prevent further violence, by controlling their borders and not allowing the flow of weapons into Liberia."
Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former Nigerian military ruler mediating peace negotiations in Ghana, also appealed for an end to the fighting.
Officials for the rebel movement Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy insisted they were only trying to pressure Taylor to step down.
"We're not trying to do a military takeover," LURD delegate Joe Wylie said in 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."
By Sunday afternoon, French medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, had received one dead and about 90 injured civilians. A Liberian staffer also was killed when a mortar struck his home Saturday night.
The British aid group Merlin treated 30 more civilians, while the city's main John F. Kennedy hospital received more than 60 wounded, most of them soldiers. One soldier died, hospital officials said.
An International Committee of the Red Cross trauma unit in Monrovia said it has treated 100 seriously wounded patients, mostly civilians.
Taylor launched Liberian's last civil war in 1989, emerging in 1996 as the country's strongest warlord. He was elected president the following year, and now faces rebels who include former rivals from the earlier war.
A U.N.-backed tribunal has indicted him on war crimes for supporting Sierra Leone's notoriously brutal rebels.
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0477_BC_Liberia
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: