Devildogg4ever
08-17-03, 06:15 AM
By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 17, 2003; Page A18
MONROVIA, Liberia, Aug. 16 -- With so few Nigerian peacekeepers in Monrovia that residents are forming their own patrols, the head of the West African force appealed to the United States today to send another 120 to 150 Marines ashore.
Nigerian Brig. Gen. Festus Okonkwo said he asked the U.S. commander in the region, Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner, to essentially double the current Marine deployment in Monrovia to shore up the badly overstretched West African contingent.
"Everybody's complaining," Okonkwo said, as he awaited the arrival of U.N. cargo jets transporting 176 more Nigerian peacekeepers to Liberia today, bringing to 1,000 the number of West African peacekeepers here. "We are trying, but we don't have our full contingent."
Okonkwo said he asked for Marines to boost the peacekeeping presence on Bushrod Island, a sprawling section of north Monrovia that the rebels vacated Monday. Only 30 Nigerian soldiers are stationed on the island, and residents have complained of gunfire and marauding government militias after sunset.
"I want people on the road," Okonkwo said.
Okonkwo commands the peacekeeping force deployed earlier this month by the Economic Community of West African States, at the request of the U.N. Security Council. After President Charles Taylor stepped down under international pressure and went into exile in Nigeria Monday, President Bush sent the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to provide support for the West African force, but its mission remains unclear.
U.S. Harrier jump jets and AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters added a dramatic punch to what appeared to be a joint deployment on Bushrod Island, which rebels had held for three weeks.
But the U.S. presence here remains light and tentative. The United States dispatched 4,350 Marines and sailors to the region aboard three ships. On Wednesday about 60 Marines who arrived by helicopter at Monrovia's seaport flew back to the USS Iwo Jima before dark. They returned the following day to finish erecting a fence near the main dock but have not been back since.
About 150 Marines remain at Monrovia's international airport, about 30 miles outside the capital. A spokesman said the Marine quick-reaction force has orders only to stand by in an abandoned building.
The Nigerian contingent was scheduled to double in size by Friday. But delays continue to plague the deployment, despite a $10 million U.S. contract to Pacific Architects and Engineers, a U.S. firm, to hasten the arrival of the West African force.
U.N. officials, who expect to take over the stabilization force in two or three months, estimated that 5,000 troops are needed to secure Monrovia, and that the entire country will require a force of 15,000 peacekeepers.
Diplomats, meanwhile, awaited word on negotiations taking place in Accra, Ghana, between rebel leaders and Liberia's new president, Moses Blah, over the structure of a transitional government.
Under terms of an agreement being hammered out in Ghana, the government Taylor left behind would be replaced in October by a transitional government. Officials had hoped to announce final agreement on the pact today, but Blah returned to Liberia empty-handed after bickering between the two rebel groups, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD, and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, or MODEL.
"I'm trying to be an optimist," said one source monitoring the talks, noting that LURD has made good on its vow to leave Bushrod.
Residents on the island said government militias remain their main problem. The undisciplined armed young men left behind by Taylor are notorious across Liberia for stealing and raping.
"They bust your door in on you and try pulling you out," said Thomas Mufaya, 25. The street in front of him was marked at regular intervals by the remains of tires set afire Friday night by residents seeking light and security.
"Vigilante action," said Milcolm Ledlum, standing on a main road flanked by an abandoned police station and the headquarters of the Liberian Electricity Corp..
"Things are a little bit shaggy right now, that's why the Americans don't want to come," said Frank Warah, who lives in New Cru Town neighborhood, where shots were heard again Friday night. "The Americans are a little bit afraid."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4141-2003Aug16.html
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 17, 2003; Page A18
MONROVIA, Liberia, Aug. 16 -- With so few Nigerian peacekeepers in Monrovia that residents are forming their own patrols, the head of the West African force appealed to the United States today to send another 120 to 150 Marines ashore.
Nigerian Brig. Gen. Festus Okonkwo said he asked the U.S. commander in the region, Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner, to essentially double the current Marine deployment in Monrovia to shore up the badly overstretched West African contingent.
"Everybody's complaining," Okonkwo said, as he awaited the arrival of U.N. cargo jets transporting 176 more Nigerian peacekeepers to Liberia today, bringing to 1,000 the number of West African peacekeepers here. "We are trying, but we don't have our full contingent."
Okonkwo said he asked for Marines to boost the peacekeeping presence on Bushrod Island, a sprawling section of north Monrovia that the rebels vacated Monday. Only 30 Nigerian soldiers are stationed on the island, and residents have complained of gunfire and marauding government militias after sunset.
"I want people on the road," Okonkwo said.
Okonkwo commands the peacekeeping force deployed earlier this month by the Economic Community of West African States, at the request of the U.N. Security Council. After President Charles Taylor stepped down under international pressure and went into exile in Nigeria Monday, President Bush sent the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to provide support for the West African force, but its mission remains unclear.
U.S. Harrier jump jets and AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters added a dramatic punch to what appeared to be a joint deployment on Bushrod Island, which rebels had held for three weeks.
But the U.S. presence here remains light and tentative. The United States dispatched 4,350 Marines and sailors to the region aboard three ships. On Wednesday about 60 Marines who arrived by helicopter at Monrovia's seaport flew back to the USS Iwo Jima before dark. They returned the following day to finish erecting a fence near the main dock but have not been back since.
About 150 Marines remain at Monrovia's international airport, about 30 miles outside the capital. A spokesman said the Marine quick-reaction force has orders only to stand by in an abandoned building.
The Nigerian contingent was scheduled to double in size by Friday. But delays continue to plague the deployment, despite a $10 million U.S. contract to Pacific Architects and Engineers, a U.S. firm, to hasten the arrival of the West African force.
U.N. officials, who expect to take over the stabilization force in two or three months, estimated that 5,000 troops are needed to secure Monrovia, and that the entire country will require a force of 15,000 peacekeepers.
Diplomats, meanwhile, awaited word on negotiations taking place in Accra, Ghana, between rebel leaders and Liberia's new president, Moses Blah, over the structure of a transitional government.
Under terms of an agreement being hammered out in Ghana, the government Taylor left behind would be replaced in October by a transitional government. Officials had hoped to announce final agreement on the pact today, but Blah returned to Liberia empty-handed after bickering between the two rebel groups, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD, and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, or MODEL.
"I'm trying to be an optimist," said one source monitoring the talks, noting that LURD has made good on its vow to leave Bushrod.
Residents on the island said government militias remain their main problem. The undisciplined armed young men left behind by Taylor are notorious across Liberia for stealing and raping.
"They bust your door in on you and try pulling you out," said Thomas Mufaya, 25. The street in front of him was marked at regular intervals by the remains of tires set afire Friday night by residents seeking light and security.
"Vigilante action," said Milcolm Ledlum, standing on a main road flanked by an abandoned police station and the headquarters of the Liberian Electricity Corp..
"Things are a little bit shaggy right now, that's why the Americans don't want to come," said Frank Warah, who lives in New Cru Town neighborhood, where shots were heard again Friday night. "The Americans are a little bit afraid."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4141-2003Aug16.html