- Title: VARIOUS: FOOD FOR LIBERIA HELD UP BY FACTIONAL FIGHTING
- Date: 14th September 1996
- Summary: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, LIBERIA (SEPTEMBER 14 AND 16, 1996) (REUTERS TELEVISION - ACCESS ALL) UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, ROAD TO CAPE MOUNT COUNTY (SEPTEMBER 14, 1996) 1. LV ROAD TOWARDS CAPE MOUNT COUNTY/ ROAD DISAPPEARING UNDER GRASS AND BUSHES 0.06 2. SLV MALNOURISHED FARMERS GATHERING LEAVES, GRASS AND WILD FRUITS FOR FOOD (2 SHOTS) 0.27 3. SLV UNITED NATIONS RELIEF CONVOY STRANDED ON ROAD TOWARDS CAPE MOUNT COUNTY, AS ULIMO-J FIGHTERS DENIED IT ACCESS TO POCKETS OF STARVATION/ SIGN FOR WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP) ON CAR (2 SHOTS) 0.39 GBAH TOWN, ROAD TO CAPE MOUNT COUNTY (SEPTEMBER 14, 1996) 4. SV MALNOURISHED OLD WOMAN SITTING BY ROADSIDE, UNABLE TO MOVE ANY FURTHER (2 SHOTS) 0.49 5. SV CROWD OF MALNOURISHED WOMEN AND CHILDREN GATHERING BY THE ROADSIDE, WAITING FOR FOOD DISTRIBUTION (3 SHOTS) 1.11 6. SV RELIEF WORKER FROM UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS DISTRIBUTING BISCUITS/ LITTLE BOY EATING BISCUIT (3 SHOTS) 1.36 MONROVIA (SEPTEMBER 16) 7. LV EXT SWEDISH RELIEF HOSPITAL, PROVIDING EMERGENCY CARE FOR WORST VICTIMS OF TUBMANBURG FAMINE (2 SHOTS) 1.45 8. CU SIGN FOR MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF) 1.49 9. SV OVER 150 PATIENTS IN EMERGENCY WARD 1.56 10.SCU MOTHER FANNING HER SEVERELY MALNOURISHED CHILD, LYING ON FLOOR, WITH NASAL DRIP (2 SHOTS) 2.06 11.CU OF CROWDED WARD 2.13 12.CU SKELETAL CHILD, COVERED IN FLIES, GASPING FOR BREATH/ INTRAVENOUS DRIP/ DYING CHILD 2.26 13.CU SEVERELY MALNOURISHED GIRL, PREMATURELY AGED/ SORES ON HER LEGS 2.37 14.SCU MALNOURISED LITTLE BOY, SITTING ON BED (3 SHOTS) 3.04 KEYWORDS: ULIMO-J ULIMO-K Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 29th September 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, LIBERIA
- City:
- Country: Liberia AFRICA
- Reuters ID: LVA1U74WSKKRGNJN6VXUG6K4NIDR
- Story Text: INTRO: Factional fighting in Liberia has hampered aid workers' efforts to help thousands of starving Liberians.
Food aid destined for thousands of starving people in western Liberia was held up at Monrovia port for the fourth day because of militia skirmishes in the area, aid workers and militia leaders said on Tuesday (September 17).
International aid agencies have not been able to deliver food aid to Tubmanburg town or its outlying famine-stricken districts since Saturday when gunmen turned back convoys.
Guerrillas of the ULIMO-J militia of General Roosevelt Johnson twice blocked food convoys reaching suspected famine areas in Cape Mount County beyond Tubmanburg. ULIMO-J gunmen cited skirmishes between them and rival ULIMO-K fighters.
Hundreds of hungry civilians emerged from the jungle along the road from Monrovia to Tubmanburg. Aid workers said many more were reportedly converging on the town itself.
ULIMO-J officials said in Monrovia on Tuesday clashes were continuing on highways in the area.
Aid workers said they were negotiating with ULIMO-J to be allowed to take food to an estimated 35,000 people. The ethnic Krahn dominated ULIMO-J is the strongest group in the area where it battled African peacekeepers last January.
Civil war has killed well over 150,000 people in Liberia.
A peace deal clinched in August 1995 fell apart in April and May when faction fighting and an orgy of looting by rampaging gunmen killed hundreds of people in Monrovia. West African leaders brokered a new deal in August and threatened individual sanctions against any faction leader who derailed it.
Under the deal, faction gunmen are to be disarmed by January with elections to follow in May. ULIMO-K leader Alhaji Kromah's guerrillas turned over heavy weapons just over a week ago at a ceremony intended to mark the genuine start of disarmament.
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