70 killed in mortar attack in Liberia
During two hours of continuous mortar fire, one shell killed 25 Liberians when it hit an American diplomatic compound where at least 10,000 refugees have taken refuge, across the street from the sprawling US Embassy complex overlooking the Atlantic.
After the blast, enraged Liberians lined up at least 18 bloodied, mangled bodies from the compound in the street outside the embassy. Some shouted, “We are going to die for nothing,” as two embassy guards in camouflage watched from behind bulletproof glass. An American journalist was wounded in the attack on the compound, according to early reports
Some 4,500 more American sailors and marines have been ordered by US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to position themselves closer to Liberia to be ready for possible duty in the embattled West African nation, US officials in Washington said yesterday.
The mortar barrage came as helicopters swooped in bringing 41 US marines to secure the American embassy, as thousands of Liberians stood outside the compound asking when troops would come to protect them. The aircraft dropped off Marines wearing green camouflage, body armor and helmets and took off carrying between 25 and 30 foreign aid workers and some foreign journalists.
Clutching bags and backpacks they ran up the hill of the embassy compound through the pouring rain, as Marines and embassy officials yelled “Go, go!”
They were to fly to neighbouring Freetown, Sierra Leone.
One of those being evacuated, aid worker Eleanor Monbiot of World Vision, said that since Friday her organisation had to stop food distribution because workers were hunkered in a compound. Tens of thousands of people have flocked to the city, desperate to escape the mortar and gunfire.
Another 27 Liberians were killed in other attacks yesterday, hospital officials said.
Liberians are weary after 14 years of bloody turmoil. Many say they won’t be satisfied that stability is possible until US peacekeepers land in the country, founded more than a century ago by freed American slaves.
Warlord-turned-president Taylor has pledged to resign and accept an offer of asylum in Nigeria, but only after peacekeepers arrive to ensure an orderly transition. President Bush has set Taylor’s departure as a condition to sending US troops.
West African nations are planning to send more than 1,500 soldiers to enforce the often-violated June 17 cease-fire. With peacekeepers yet to arrive, Taylor has vowed to fight for Monrovia, his only remaining stronghold.
Liberians say they are fed up.
“We hold George Bush responsible for this mess,” shouted a member of Taylor’s elite Anti-Terrorist Unit as throngs of civilians hurried through his checkpoint on Sunday.
Rebels pounded the city with mortars and pushed deeper into the northern suburbs on Sunday before being repelled by government forces into the port area. The fighting, which continued into the night, sent a new wave of terrified residents fleeing with bundles of possessions balanced on their heads. The casualty toll was not clear.
In Washington, the State Department called for an immediate cease-fire by all parties and a focus on continuing peace talks in Ghana aimed at setting up a unity government to oversee fresh elections.
General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the former Nigerian military ruler mediating peace in Ghana, also appealed for an end to the fighting.
Officials for the rebel movement, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, insisted they were only trying to pressure Taylor to step down.
“We’re not trying to do a military takeover,” LURD delegate Joe Wylie said in Ghana. “But we can help to speed things up. Since Taylor signed the cease-fire, he is running his mouth and amending his promises. We want to apply a little pressure on him. We want him to leave now.”
By Sunday afternoon, French medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres had received one dead and about 90 injured civilians.
British aid group Merlin treated 30 more civilians, while the John F. Kennedy hospital received more than 60 wounded, most of them soldiers.
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