LIBERIA: U.N. AID AND A HANDFUL OF U.S. TROOPS ARE FLOWN INTO MONROVIA TO PROVIDE LOGISTICAL SUPPORT FOR WEST AFRICAN PEACEKEEPERS

Record ID: 647071

  • Title: LIBERIA: U.N. AID AND A HANDFUL OF U.S. TROOPS ARE FLOWN INTO MONROVIA TO PROVIDE LOGISTICAL SUPPORT FOR WEST AFRICAN PEACEKEEPERS
  • Date: 6th August 2003
  • Summary: (EU) MONROVIA, LIBERIA (AUGUST 6, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV: U.S EMBASSY 0.04 2. SV/SLV: U.S. MARINES WITH BINOCULARS (2 SHOTS) 0.12 3. VARIOUS: U.S APACHE HELICOPTERS (4 SHOTS) 0.35 4. SCU: YOUNG BOYS WATCHING 0.39 5. VARIOUS; MILITARY TRANSPORT PLANE AND APACHE HELICOPTERS (4 SHOTS) 1.00 (W7) MONROVIA, LIBERIA (AUGUST 6, 2003) (REUTERS) 6. MV: AT THE AIRPORT, U.S. MARINES 1.03 7. VARIOUS: U.S. MARINES WITH NIGERIAN PEACEKEEPER SOLDIERS (9 SHOTS) 1.57 8. MV: MARINES WALKING AT THE AIRPORT 2.02 9. VARIOUS: U.S. AND NIGERIANS INSIDE AN AIRPORT BUILDING WITH THEIR EQUIPMENT (4 SHOTS) 2.17 10. SV'S: SOLDIERS WALKING AT THE AIRPORT (2 SHOTS) 2.28 11. VARIOUS: UNITED NATIONS FOOD AID BEING UNLOADED FROM A PLANE AT THE AIRPORT (6 SHOTS) 3.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MONROVIA, LIBERIA
  • Country: Liberia
  • Reuters ID: LVA54KJ4YT46CEHEFQGWFKJIJYKC
  • Story Text: U.N aid and a handful fo U.S.soldiers were flown into
    Liberia to provide logistical support for West African
    peacekeepers.


    West African peacekeepers built up their force on
    Wednesday (August 6) to take control of Liberia's battered
    capital as the United States sent in a handful of Marines
    to help them.

    Desperate civilians hope the foreign troops will bring
    peace and a square meal a little closer in a city where
    fighting between rebels and President Charles Taylor's
    forces has left at least 2,000 people dead since June.

    In Washington, the Pentagon announced that a team of
    about seven Marines had been flown into Monrovia from
    warships offshore as the start of a liaison mission that
    could grow to as many as 20 in the coming days.

    The United States has sent three vessels, with a task
    force of about 2,300 U.S. Marines aboard, to assist the
    regional force. But it has yet to decide if it will commit
    its own troops to a country founded by freed American
    slaves.

    Nigerian soldiers could not move into Monrovia as
    planned on Wednesday because they were still waiting at the
    airport some 45 km (28 miles) outside the capital for
    essential equipment from Sierra Leone.

    Helicopters brought in more troops to a force that is
    now more than 450-strong, while armoured vehicles rolled
    from a plane. Ghanaian Colonel Theophilus Tawiah said the
    plan was now to move into the city centre on Thursday.

    The delay illustrated the many hurdles the peacekeepers
    will have to overcome despite early explosions of popular
    joy when they arrived in Liberia on Monday.

    The guns were mainly silent in Monrovia on Wednesday
    and the bitter foes of a week ago chatted along front
    lines, some with white ribbons tied to gun barrels.

    While Monrovia was quiet, fighting raged in the second
    city of Buchanan as Taylor's forces tried to oust a smaller
    rebel group, known as Model, which seized the port city
    last week.

    Hopes of lasting peace have also been dented after
    Taylor was said to have attached conditions to accepting an
    offer of asylum in Nigeria after his scheduled resignation
    next Monday.

    Officials in Nigeria said Taylor wanted a U.N.-backed
    court in Sierra Leone to drop a war crimes indictment
    against him for an alleged role in a brutal civil war. His
    lawyers have asked the World Court to quash the indictment.

    The ECOWAS regional bloc said that Taylor would
    formally announce his intention to resign during a joint
    session of Liberia's houses of parliament on Thursday.

    Rebels have refused to pull back from Monrovia until
    the former warlord leaves the country, although they have
    promised to hand over the vital port to the peacekeepers.

    A United Nations multi-agency team arrived in Monrovia
    on Wednesday to assess the humanitarian situation. The
    world body has asked governments to donate $69 million in
    emergency funds for food, clean water and shelter.

    Aid workers earlier buried two bodies on the beach in
    West Point -- new graves among over a hundred others marked
    with crosses made from twigs. The victims were an elderly
    woman hit in the head by a bullet while she was throwing
    rubbish into the sea and a looter, the aid workers said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register