Posted on 06/05/2003 11:02:13 PM PDT by HAL9000
Rebels in Liberia are reported to have entered the suburbs of the capital, Monrovia, as President Charles Taylor struggles to hold on to power.At the same time, aid workers said thousands of refugees had fled in terror from camps on the outskirts of the city.
The refugees were trying to reach the centre of Monrovia despite the army trying to block them, said Ramin Rafirasme, West African spokesman for the World Food Programme.
"People are in the street, in the rain. The situation remains very tense in Monrovia. We are very worried by the situation of these people," he said.
Witnesses contacted by reporters by phone also tell of fighting near the town of Duala, four kilometres from Monrovia, where rebels were trying to capture a bridge leading directly to the city.
Liberian military sources have acknowledged a thrust by rebels into the capital's outskirts.
They say the rebels were beaten back but then returned with heavy fire.
Tribunal questions
The government retains control in just three of Liberia's 15 counties, with two different rebel groups having made advances towards the capital in recent months.
Reports of the fighting on Thursday came soon after President Taylor made a radio broadcast saying a coup attempt was foiled on Wednesday, while he was in Ghana for the start of peace talks to end the country's civil war.
UN prosecutors issued a warrant for Mr Taylor's arrest for crimes against humanity while he was at the talks, prompting his return to Monrovia.
The United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal, based in neighbouring Sierra Leone, is demanding to know why Ghana did not arrest Mr Taylor while he was in the country.
The indictment accuses President Taylor of crimes against humanity over his alleged backing of rebels in Sierra Leone's brutal 10-year-long civil war which ended in 2002.
But the Organisation of West African States which organised the talks has criticised the timing of the arrest warrant.
The executive secretary, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, said that announcing the charges against Charles Taylor as he was about to open the peace talks had "put a damper on the negotiations".
He said President Taylor was making helpful offers "opening up tremendous opportunities" to end the Liberian conflict.
The BBC's West Africa correspondent, Paul Welsh, says Mr Chambas is saying out loud what diplomats from Western and African countries are saying privately.
They believe that the Ghanaians could not act on the arrest warrant because it would have killed the first real chance of peace in Liberia in a generation.
They say they believe that the government decided the future of the Liberian peace talks was more important than trying the Liberian president.
At the opening of the talks, President Taylor had offered not to stand for re-election if that was necessary for a comprehensive peace deal.
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