US troops to assess situation in Liberia

THE US has sent about 100 troops from Europe to west Africa to provide backup for a team assessing humanitarian needs in Liberia.

The troops arrived in Senegal and Sierra Leone last night, with three helicopters and a C130 Hercules transport plane as enhancement for the group already in Liberia, said Major Bill Bigelow.

“They will serve for personal recovery and emergency evacuation for the humanitarian team, or other aviation requirements as needed,” Bigelow said.

A team of about 15 US military specialists arrived in Liberia last week to assess humanitarian needs on the ground while Washington considers whether to send peacekeepers to the war-battered country.

The move came as George W Bush and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan were scheduled to meet last night in the US to discuss an agenda jammed with global hotspots and seemingly intractable problems.

Like Bush, who returned late Saturday from a tour of five sub-Saharan nations, Annan is just back from Africa, where he attended the African Union summit in Mozambique.

On their plate: the ongoing conflict in Congo, postwar Iraq, Afghanistan, the US-led war on terrorism, the search for peace in the Mideast, and efforts to battle poverty and AIDS around the world.

It was the first meeting between Bush and Annan since December 20, and since a divisive UN debate over a resolution - ultimately withdrawn when faced with certain defeat - backing a US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime.

Their discussion in the Oval Office was likely to involve the touchy subject of the United Nations’ role in establishing a new Iraqi government. In the background, questions swirled around continuing attacks on US troops in Iraq and Saddam’s prewar nuclear program.

Regarding Congo, US-UN differences appear to have been resolved last week, when Washington said it would support Annan’s request to give a UN peacekeeping force in eastern Congo more troops and a stronger mandate to help end fighting.

Meanwhile in Liberia the beleaguered government accused rebels of launching battles yesterday despite a ceasefire. It urged the speedy arrival of international peacekeepers to quell fighting that has plunged the nation into chaos.

A high-ranking official from the main rebel group, currently in neighbouring Ghana for peace talks, said he was not aware of any serious fighting.

“There are always small skirmishes but as far as all-out war, I don’t know about that,” said Kabineh Ja’Neh, a leader of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy.

Information Minister Reginald Goodrich said that fighting between government and rebel troops was ongoing in the northern towns of Gorlu and Kwendin.