VARIOUS: REFUGEES FLEEING LIBERIA ARE ALLOWED INTO SIERRA LEONE AND GHANA/ FIGHTING IN LIBERIA CONTINUES

Record ID: 275065

  • Title: VARIOUS: REFUGEES FLEEING LIBERIA ARE ALLOWED INTO SIERRA LEONE AND GHANA/ FIGHTING IN LIBERIA CONTINUES
  • Date: 14th May 1996
  • Summary: TAKORADI, GHANA/ MONROVIA, LIBERIA/ FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE (MAY 14, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) TAKORADI, GHANA 1. LV SHIP IN PORT AREA MOVING TOWARDS DOCKS, SURROUNDED BY TUGS 0.11 2. LV REFUGEE SHIP MOVING TOWARDS DOCK BEHIND FREIGHTER 0.19 *** SEQUENCES 3 - 10 MUST NOT BE USED *** 3. LV TRUCKS ON DOCK NEXT TO SHIP
  • Embargoed: 29th May 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TAKORADI, GHANA / MONROVIA, LIBERIA / FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE
  • City:
  • Country: Liberia AFRICA Ghana Sierra Leone
  • Reuters ID: LVAADGG35RA7FBXD4QV393MTWQOD
  • Story Text: INTRO: Thousands of refugees fleeing the civil war in Liberia have been allowed into Ghana and Sierra Leone while gunmen have again called a halt to the fiercest fighting to hit Monrovia.

    Thousands of refugees fleeing violence in Liberiahave been given sanctuary in neighbouring Sierra Leone and Ghana.

    Two boats carrying almost 3,000 refugees have finally been allowed to dock in the two West African countries after being refused entry on a number of previous occasions in the last six days.

    They left the boats during some of the fiercest fighting to rage in the Liberian capital Monrovia on Tuesday (May 14).

    Rival gunmen again called a halt to fighting on Wednesday (May 15) even though Tuesday's fighting had shattered atwo-day truce with fighters shaking hands on the front-line and claiming to want peace in the troubled capital.

    A rusty Nigerian freighter carrying almost two thousand refugees was allowed to dock in Ghana.

    The United Nations refugee organisation UNHCR said there were 1,849 on board the Bulk Challenge, many of them women and children Original estimates before relief workers were able to count how many refugees were crammed on the ship had put the number at 3,500.

    As well as 1,500 Liberians, the ship contained Nigerian soldiers who were members of the West African peacekeeping force (ECOMOG), Nigerian civilians and Ghanaians.

    The freighter had previously tried unseccessfully to dock in Takoradi but the Ghanan authorities had turned it away, using floating cranes to block its passage into port.

    Food and water were in short supply and at least one person on board died.

    The refugees were allowed to leave the boat after the UNHCR promised to finance a relief operation. They have now been transferred to Essipon, near Takoradi, where workmen have begun building a tent camp.

    In Monrovia, the guns went quiet again on Wednesday (May 15) after a day of the fiercest fighting the capital had seen.

    Gunmen loyal to Charles Taylor, who launched the war in 1989, strolled on the beach in the Mamba Point district, from where ethnic Krahn rivals disloged them for much of Tuesday (May 14).

    State radio said that government forces, which include Taylor loyalists and supporters of fellow ruling Council of State vice-chairman Alhaji Kromah, would respect a truce.

    Witnesses said that at least 16 fighters died in Tuesday's clashes, during which Krahn hacked to death wounded rivals.

    Krahn commanders accused Taylor and Kromah supporters of starting the fighting by attacking them on several fronts.

    State radio said a gunman shot dead two civilians watching the fighting from the Greystone compound attached to the United States (U.S.) embassy. Other sources reported 50 people wounded. More than 20,000 frightened civilians have taken refuge in the compound.

    Tuesday's violence came just one day after hand-shakes and promises of peace between rival gunmen on a city centre frontline.

    An apparent Krahn counter-attack drove Taylor fighters from frontline and other positions, seizing control of the Mamba Point district and advancing further than in previous pushes.

    The nearby United States (U.S.) embassy, which is protected by marines, advised its staff by radio to move around the sea-front compound with extreme caution after fighting swirled up roads towards and beyond it.

    The war has killed more than 150,000 people and made over half Liberia's population of 2.5 million homeless.

    There was respite from the fighting and the suffering of days at sea for almost a thousand refugees who were finally allowed to dock in Sierra Leone.

    Many of the people on board the fishing boat, Victory Reefer, were Sierra Leoneans. It was also carrying Liberians, Nigerian peacekeeping troops, some Lebanese and an Italian.

    The boat had a similar journey to the Bulk Challenge in that it had been at sea for days, during which it had repeatedly been refused permission to dock. Many of those on board were tired and some were suffering from diseases.

    Doctor Pietter Pellenboer, of the medical organisation Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF), said many of the passengers were suffering from diahorrea and cholera.

    Police officers, government officials and representatives from the MSF met the 947 refugees as they disembarked in Freetown.


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