LIBERIA: REFUGEES COLLECT FOOD SUPPLIES AND VICTIMS OF REBEL ATTACK ON MONROVIA ARE BURIED

Record ID: 275263

  • Title: LIBERIA: REFUGEES COLLECT FOOD SUPPLIES AND VICTIMS OF REBEL ATTACK ON MONROVIA ARE BURIED
  • Date: 24th July 2003
  • Summary: (W5) ON THE COAST, MONROVIA, LIBERIA (JULY 24, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV MEN CARRYING STRETCHER WITH BODY BAGS CONTAINING BODIES OF THREE CHILDREN 0.04 2. SLV MEN CARRYING STRETCHER HOLDING THE COVERED BODY OF AN ADULT 0.11 3. SLV MEN LIFTING BODY INTO GRAVE 0.17 4. SLV FIVE SMALL BOYS ON THE BEACH WATCHING 0.21 5.
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MONROVIA, LIBERIA
  • Country: Liberia
  • Reuters ID: LVA7EAHN98GKJC0R34QTKW3IGL4A
  • Story Text: Bodies continued to be buried and refugees in Monrovia
    have become desperately short of food and medical supplies as
    forces loyal to Liberian President Charles Taylor battled
    rebels for the sixth day in the capital.



    The bodies of three children were amongst the 81 dead
    who were buried in shallow graves on Thursday (July 24) on the
    coast near to the capital Monrovia. The deaths were a result
    of fighting two days ago.

    Residents have pleaded for Nigerian troops to shield them
    from more chaos in the city, where heavy gunfire echoed
    overnight near two key bridges leading into the centre and
    another on a road which cuts around the back of the coastal
    capital.

    Aid workers have not been able to distribute food to the
    some 50,000 Liberian refugees who have camped in the Monrovia
    city stadium since Saturday (July 19).

    People have been left with only small piles of peppers and
    leaves for sauce, but no rice or cornmeal -- just one aspect
    of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the capital.

    Many have scant shelter from pouring rain, while food and
    water are scarce. Relief workers, struggling amid a patter of
    stray bullets, have warned of a potential cholera epidemic.

    Sanitation is virtually non-existent and medical supplies are
    scarce.

    Aid worker Boakai Nsaina explained that the situation for
    the refugees is at crisis point.

    "It is like we are heading towards a catastrophe, it is a
    very serious condition; but yesterday ... it is our main aim
    we should provide health care in crisis ... so our main aim is
    we are to live and to eat."
    Nigerian and Ghanaian troops deployed in Monrovia in the
    1990s during a previous round of civil war that killed 200,000
    people, and although they failed to halt all violence,
    residents credit them with preventing some of the worst
    bloodshed.

    This is the third time rebel Liberians United for
    Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) have attacked the capital
    since June and calls have been growing louder for foreign
    troops to intervene to stop fighting that has killed over
    1,000 people.

    Officials from the United States, United Nations, Economic
    Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigeria were due
    to meet in neighbouring Sierra Leone at 3:30 p.m. (1530 GMT)
    on Thursday to fine-tune plans to deploy Nigerian
    peacekeepers.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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