- Title: LIBERIA: LATEST CEASEFIRE
- Date: 26th June 2003
- Summary: (W1) MONROVIA, LIBERIA (JUNE 26, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LV/SLV BODIES LIE NEAR THE U.S. EMBASSY COMPOUND IN MONROVIA THE PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN A MORTAR ATTACK (2 SHOTS) 0.09 (W1) MONROVIA, LIBERIA (JUNE 27, 2003) (REUTERS) 2. SV SOLDIER GUARDING PRESIDENT TAYLOR'S MOTORCADE HOLDS UP HIS RIFLE AS TAYLOR TOURS THE CITY'S STREETS 0.16 3. SV WOMEN AND CHILDREN SHOUT 'WE WANT PEACE' AS TAYLOR DRIVES PAST 0.19 4. SV TAYLOR DRIVES A BULLET-PROOF VEHICLE AS HE TOURS THE CITY 0.25 5. SV TAYLOR WAVING TO THE CROWD FROM BEHIND THE GLASS WINDOW OF HIS CAR 0.37 6. SLV SOLDIERS GUARDING HIS MOTORCADE 0.42 7. SV PEOPLE CHANTING 'WE WANT PEACE. NO MORE WAR' (5 SHOTS) 1.09 8. SV THE U.S. FLAG SEEN THROUGH THE BRANCHES OF A TREE 1.12 9. SV CROWD OF PEOPLE DEMONSTRATE AND A MAN HOLDS A SIGN THAT SAYS: "GEORGE BUSH: WE WANT PEACE"/SIGN SAYING: "AMERICA: PLEASE STOP THE KILLING. WE ARE DYING" 1.23 10. MCU (English) MONROVIA RESIDENT, SAYING: "I want Mr Bush to immediately enforce to send us troops. Immediately. We need troops that will come and send the rebels back." 1.38 11. SLV MEN RUNNING AND CHANTING FOR PEACE THROUGH THE STREETS 1.42 12. SLV/LAS GUNMEN DRIVING THROUGH THE STREETS (2 SHOTS) 1.58 13. SLV/CU DEAD BODY ON A MONROVIA STREET (2 SHOTS) 2.07 14. SV MEN INSPECT BULLET HOLES THROUGH A CAR IN A STREET 2.13 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MONROVIA, LIBERIA
- Country: Liberia
- Reuters ID: LVA4RPTKV4X3U38JP03WN0E5ZKTC
- Story Text: Liberia's latest ceasefire, after two failed rebel
attempts to storm the capital in 10 days, has revived faint
hopes for peace as cries grew ever louder for foreign
intervention.
This week's sudden rebel strike for Monrovia left
hundreds of people dead and forced thousands from their homes
before president Charles Taylor's forces battled the
insurgents back beyond the limits of the steamy city on the
West African coast.
Former warlord Taylor remains under intense pressure, with
two rebel factions controlling 60 percent of Liberia, an
international court after him for war crimes in Sierra Leone
and U.S. President George W. Bush urging him to step down.
Taylor's commanders said they would silence their guns on
Friday after the rebels ordered a ceasefire, prompting
thousands of people onto Monrovia's streets to chant "We want
peace, no more war."
The fighting in Monrovia was the worst since the 1990s,
when corpses littered shabby streets as tribal factions vied
for control. Liberia has known little but violence for nearly
14 years.
Peace talks in Ghana were adjourned for a week on Friday
(June 27), although both sides said they were committed to
negotiations they began after a ceasefire last week that never
really took hold.
But Liberians have little faith that any of their leaders
can bring the peace they crave and calls are growing ever
stronger for foreign intervention.
Most eyes turn to the United States because of its
historical links with a country founded more than 150 years
ago by freed slaves trying to establish a haven of liberty.
Demonstrators gathered at the U.S. embassy for a second
day on Friday to call for help. Even Taylor asked for American
assistance despite Bush's demand a day earlier that he step
down to end the bloodshed.
Iraq-war ally Britain has also said it would like to see
the United States lead a multinational force into Liberia, but
officials in Washington have so far ruled out sending
peace-keepers.
Regional diplomats say there is talk that Nigeria might
send soldiers to Liberia, as it did during the civil war in
the 1990s. That West African force failed to prevent some of
the bloodiest episodes of a war that left 200,000 dead.
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