Nigerian peacekeepers prepare to enter Monrovia

Nigerian peacekeepers faced a daunting task today as they prepared to enter the Liberian capital Monrovia, which has been under rebel siege for two months.

The troops landed amid jubilant scenes yesterday at the airport, about 30 miles from the city centre, where fierce fighting has been taking place.

They were the vanguard of a 3,250-strong West African force that aims to end the violence and speed the departure of warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor.

As the first 198 Nigerian soldiers deployed, Taylor reportedly assured Nigerian officials he would leave Liberia as he had promised, soon after he cedes power on August 11.

“He even said the place would no longer be safe for him then,” said a Nigerian diplomat who was present at a private meeting yesterday in Monrovia between the Liberian leader and Nigeria Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji.

Crowds greeted the Nigerians when they landed on white UN helicopters in a heavy downpour.

“I think the war is over,” said Fayiah Morris, who was in the throng of residents who danced in the rain.

But the sound of gunfire and the black smoke rising over Liberia’s ruined capital made it clear the fighting was far from over.

For much of the day, Liberian rebels and Taylor’s troops fired automatic weapons and rocket launchers across the Old Bridge, separating the capital’s rebel-held island port and the government’s stronghold.

At one point, rebels taunted their foes, dancing with brooms, doing back flips and waving at Taylor’s men. The government troops fired a .50 calibre machine gun mounted on a pick-up truck in reply.

Taylor’s troops accused rebels of looting before the peacekeeping force moves in, but arguments over goods among Taylor’s AK-47-armed fighters suggested they were doing the same.

The first peacekeepers concentrated on setting up defences at the airport. Troops will not move into Monrovia until sufficient numbers arrive, the force’s Nigerian commander, Brig Gen Festus Okonkwo, said.

West African peacekeeping troops deployed repeatedly in Liberia in the 1990s, at times coming under attack from forces led by Taylor, then a rebel leader.

Nigerian officers at the airport said they will operate under rules of engagement authorising them to shoot to protect civilians or themselves.

“If we want to keep peace and we cannot keep peace, it will amount to enforcing peace,” Okonkwo said. “Then we will get back to the people that sent us. They will give us the mandate.”

The West African deployment was approved last week by the UN Security Council, which also approved a U.S.-proposed resolution to speed a broader UN peacekeeping force within months.

The United States, which oversaw Liberia’s 19th century founding by freed American slaves, has publicly committed only to a £6 million contract for logistical support.

President Bush’s spokesman Scott McClellan said the US was “very encouraged” by yesterday’s deployment.

In Washington, one senior US official said there was “certainly the possibility, maybe even a probability” that some American forces will be sent ashore from warships over the horizon to co-operate with the West African troops.

Under pressure from fellow West African leaders and the US, Taylor has agreed to cede power Aug. 11.

But his government has hedged on Taylor’s promises to go into exile in Nigeria, saying he would leave only when enough peacekeepers are on the ground and when a war crimes indictment against him is dropped.

Taylor has promised repeatedly to yield power since June 4, when a joint United Nations and Sierra Leone court revealed the war crimes indictment against him for supporting rebels in that nation.

He is blamed in nearly 14 years of conflict in Liberia that have killed more than 100,000 people, and accused of gun and diamond trafficking and other dealings that have fuelled conflicts in West Africa.