- Title: LIBERIA: FRONTLINE
- Date: 9th August 2003
- Summary: 1. LV OF ROAD LEADING TO SECOND CITY OF BUCHANAN 0.04 2. SLV YOUNG JUNGLE LION FIGHTERS LOUNGING UP A TREE 0.10 3. SLV/SV YOUNG FIGHTERS WALKING DOWN DUSTY ROAD (2 SHOTS) 0.25 4. SLV FIGHTERS WALKING BY RIVER 0.32 5. SLV ONE FIGHTER CROUCHED SMOKING 0.41 6. LV ACROSS RIVER TO BUCHANAN 0.55 7. SLV SIGN ON BRIDGE SAYING "WELCOME TO BUCHANAN" 1.10 8. SLV/LV PEOPLE CARRYING BAGS ACROSS BRIDGE (2 SHOTS) 1.24 9. SLV FIGHTERS WITH WEAPONS SEATED 1.29 10. SLV JUNGLE LIONS CAMP 1.34 11. MCU (ENGLISH) GENERAL SOLO, COMMANDER OF JUNGLE LIONS UNIT, SAYING: "There is a ceasefire, we are monitoring the ceasefire, if they do not fire at all, we will not fire, however if they do fire we will fire" 1.47 12. SLV FIGHTERS STANDING AROUND 1.51 13. CLOSE UP AMMUNITION 1.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 24th August 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MONROVIA AND NEAR BUCHANAN, LIBERIA
- Country: Liberia
- Reuters ID: LVA6PUINVID0V9CXHPUYUTK2WT2M
- Story Text: West African officials say they expect to deploy in
Liberia's vital port to allow food supplies to flow but
rebel leaders say they have not given anyone permission to
secure the port yet.
Outgoing Liberian president Charles Taylor should
be preparing to leave his starving, warring country
following his decision to step down.
His supporters cheered him on Saturday (August 9) when
he visited the party headquarters, possibly for the last
time.
"President Charles Taylor is our president. We voted
for him and he will remain our president until death do us
part. Our president, he came from far behind a dark cloud
and gave shining light to Africa, especially Liberia," said
one supporter, Jatu Hawa Smith.
But rebels are still uncertain Taylor will leave his
ruined country and are reluctant to leave ground they won
in weeks of vicious street battles that left at least 2,000
people dead.
Guns have fallen silent in Monrovia since some 800
regional peacekeepers flew in, but that has made the daily
struggle for survival only a little easier for hundreds of
thousands of people scrabbling for whatever food they can
find.
The US military attach, Sue Ann Sandusky, visited the
rebel side with the head of the Nigerian peacekeepers
mission, Festus Okonkowo on Saturday.
The arrival of the peacekeepers, who were welcomed as
heroes when they first rumbled through Monrovia's streets,
has brought a measure of hope to the blighted capital.
Eventually, West African leaders hope to deploy around
3,250 troops.
A small team of U.S. Marines is also on the ground and
warships carrying around 2,300 Marines are anchored
offshore.
"We were just giving the ECOMIL Chief of Staff the
opportunity to look around," Sandusky said.
But without securing the port, urgent food, aid and
medical supplies could be further delayed from getting to
the people of Monrovia who are starving.
The International Red Cross, which visited the
rebel-held areas on Friday (August 8), say they are very
concerned about the reopening of the port and there will
also be a pressing need for fuel to start running the
country again and generators in hospitals in particular.
The team inspected the port again and Okonkowo, asked
why his troops had not deployed there yet, said his troops
were not ready, despite his belief that there was little
opposition to the presence of his forces.
(Q: has there been an agreement for you to come to the
port?)"Yes otherwise we wouldn't be here (Q: so when are
you going to deploy to the port?) As soon as we are ready
(how do you find the situation in the port now, will it be
easy for you to deploy?) yes why not? We should be able to
deploy (What are you waiting for sir?) We are still getting
our forces together (and when do you think you will be
ready?) Some time net week (Q: How do you find the
situation on this side?) Here? Oh well there is very little
work to do here (Q: you think you can control this area
very easily?) Yes I think so, " Onkokowo said.
But but the rebels said only their leader Sekou Conneh
could decide when they would pull out.
"We have not given permission to anyone to deploy
anywhere. The permission is only given by the national
chairman who is also heading the entire forces in law. he
has not given the permission yet," Internal Minister for
the rebels, Jacob Fofana, said.
Conneh was expected in main rebel backer Guinea
following a trip to Europe.
The rebels have threatened to continue their fight if
Taylor hands over on Monday, as planned, to Vice President
Moses Blah -- an ally from days of guerrilla training in
Libya.
West African officials say Blah's stay would only be
short, possibly just days, before a new interim president
is chosen at peace talks in Ghana among Taylor's officials,
rebels and squabbling politicians.
Away from the capital, none of the warring factions has
relented in the struggle to grab as much ground as
possible.
Scores of people have been killed in fighting for the
second city of Buchanan, which Taylor's forces have been
trying to recapture from a faction known as Model.
Residents in Buchanan say fighting on the frontline
there has died down Saturday.
A Reuters cameraman has brought back pictures from the
frontline in the Liberia's second city of Buchanan.
Scores of people have been killed in fighting for the
city which President Charles Taylor's troops have been
trying to recapture from a faction known as Model.
There have been three days of heavy fighting.
During a lull in fighting on Saturday (August 9)
General Solo, commander of the Jungle Lions unit, a
government army unit, said the government was sticking to a
ceasefire, but warned if the rebels started firing, his
troops would fire back.
"There is a ceasefire, we are monitoring the ceasefire, if
they do not fire at all, we will not fire, however if they
do fire we will fire," General Solo told Reuters.
Charles Taylor has been under intense U.S. pressure to
quit a country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th
century. He has accepted an offer of asylum from Nigeria,
but has yet to say when he will take it up.
He also wants Sierra Leone's U.N.-backed war crimes
court to drop charges against him of conniving with brutal
rebels there.
Rebels, who mockingly dub Taylor "the president of the
republic of central Monrovia", suspect he is dragging his
feet to win time, and maybe another escape.
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