- Title: LIBERIA: FIFTH DAY OF REBEL FIGHTING OUTSIDE MONROVIA
- Date: 22nd July 2003
- Summary: (W5) MONROVIA, LIBERIA (JULY 22, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF JEEP DRIVING ALONG DESERTED AND WET STREET 0.03 2. VARIOUS OF GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS ROAMING THROUGH STREET (NOTE: NOT ALL GOVERNMENT SOLDIER ARE WEARING UNIFORMS) 0.18 3. SLV MEN RUNNING ALONG STREET 0.26 4. SMV LIBERIA DEFENCE MINISTER DANIEL CHEA CHEERING WITH
- Embargoed: 6th August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MONROVIA, LIBERIA
- Country: Liberia
- Reuters ID: LVACTUN2D3RMTUZE1JVIGTUW9GEL
- Story Text: Liberia said more than 600 civilians had been killed in
a rebel onslaught as fighting raged for a fifth day on the
outskirts of the capital.
After a quiet night, fighting in the Monrovia resumed
on Tuesday (July 22) with the heaviest gunfire coming from
areas near bridges that lead to the centre of the Liberian
capital.
Drenching rain amplified the misery for tens of thousands
of Monrovians packed into the diplomatic quarter, where many
had no shelter or huddled under scraps of plastic sheeting.
Aid workers calculated about 100 civilians had been killed
by mortar bombs over the past few days, but Chea put overall
civilian casualties at six times that figure.
Angry Monrovians have cursed the United States for failing
to send soldiers to help end the bloodshed in the country,
which was founded by freed American slaves.
The U.S. administration has put the main burden on the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to lead any
mission to end 14 years of almost non-stop war.
But there has been little indication that the regional
bloc will deploy any time soon a promised 1,500 troops, meant
as the vanguard of a larger force.
Liberian Defence Minister Daniel Chea said the soaring
death toll in Monrovia had thrown into doubt pledges by
President Charles Taylor to quit once peacekeeping troops
arrived.
"We hear that ECOWAS are talking about dollars and cents,
how much each soldier is going to get paid before they come
here. In the midst all this bickering and discussions, people
are dying," Chea told Reuters in Monrovia.
The defence minister also called for an international arms
embargo against Liberia to be lifted to help government troops
rebuff the rebels.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) described the
situation as "horrific" and aid workers appealed for foreign
troops were needed urgently to end the violence.
In Senegal's capital Dakar, the worsening situation in
Liberia was at the centre of talks between ECOWAS defence and
foreign affairs ministers and army officials on the sidelines
of a U.S.-sponsored conference on regional security.
On Monday (July 21), residents demonstrated outside the
U.S. embassy lying 18 bodies outside the compound and
denouncing Washington for not having sent soldiers yet.
United States president George W. Bush has said he would
only consider sending troops to help if Taylor, wanted by a
U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone, left the
country.
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