Liberian Rebels Raise Stakes in Broken Capital

Reuters ^ | 08/08/03 | David Clarke

[Pikamax]

Liberian Rebels Raise Stakes in Broken Capital Fri August 8, 2003 08:13 AM ET

By David Clarke MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia's rebels added tough new conditions for opening Monrovia's desperately needed port on Friday as West African peacekeepers faced the challenge of reuniting the hungry and broken city.

A growing humanitarian catastrophe has intensified the need for urgent access to the rebel-held port so food and supplies can be brought to hundreds of thousands of refugees packed into the rest of Monrovia.

As the Nigerian peacekeepers settled into their new base, the rebels threatened to continue their war if President Charles Taylor hands over power to his vice president as he plans to do on Monday.

It was not clear if the peacekeepers would get across rebel lines on Friday after a heroes' welcome on Thursday when they rumbled through bullet-scarred streets for the first time.

Rebels had promised to pull out of the port once peacekeepers arrived, but told Reuters on Friday that Taylor's forces first had to withdraw from the rest of Monrovia.

Taylor, a former warlord wanted for war crimes by a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone, is due to hand over power to Vice-President Moses Blah next Monday and leave the country shortly afterwards.

But he has not yet set a date for his departure and the rebels are uncomfortable with Blah, an old ally from days of guerrilla training in Libya and Taylor's bush war in the 1990s.

"If Moses Blah takes over, we will fight back. We will definitely fight Moses Blah," said Sekou Fofana, a top official of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) in Monrovia.

He warned that if Taylor resigned but did not leave on Monday "things will be tough again" for the Liberian people.

Fofana also said loyalists attacked them early on Friday at Taylor's home town of Arthington, just outside the city.

MASS HUNGER

Three assaults by LURD on Monrovia since June have cost at least 2,000 lives and stranded hundreds of thousands of people with barely enough food to survive.

These displaced people hope the peacekeepers will end 14 years of almost non-stop war and -- of more immediate concern -- get food from the port and allow aid agencies to start work again after two weeks of fierce street battles.

Aid agencies said their workers would try to visit rebel-held areas like the port on Friday and evacuate wounded civilians.

"It's important because finally we'll be able to provide medical assistance to civilians that we haven't been able to help for a month," said Virginia de la Guardia of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Taylor has come under intense U.S. pressure to leave Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century. A small team of U.S. Marines is in Monrovia and warships carrying around 2,300 Marines are anchored offshore.

The president has been offered asylum by Nigeria, but wants the court in Sierra Leone to lift the indictment before he goes.

A high-level regional delegation, including the top official from the Economic Community of West African States, jetted into Monrovia late on Thursday for a short meeting with Taylor before leaving again. They said they had brought a message of peace.

There are now some 450 peacekeepers in Liberia, though West African leaders have pledged to send around 3,250 troops in total