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Bush "Monitors" Liberia Crisis, Fighting Rages In Capital
MONROVIA,
July 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least 19
civilians were killed and casualties piled up among combatants in
fierce fighting that roiled Liberia's capital Monrovia Monday, July
21, as U.S. President George W. Bush said he was
"monitoring" the deepening crisis in Liberia, but gave no
indication when he would commit U.S. forces to support a West African
peacekeeping operation.
In
a serious development, the U.S. Embassy in the war-torn capital was
hit in a hail of mortar shells that injured three.
The
deployment of U.S. special forces sent to bolster protection at the
U.S. compound was interrupted by the mortar attack, which an Agence
France-Presse (AFP) photographer at the site said seemed to come from
the rebel-controlled port area.
But
a spokesman for the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
(LURD) rebel group denied being behind the offensive, and accused
forces loyal to President Charles Taylor of wanting to "provoke
terror and panic".
Reliable
sources said a missile hit a house in central Monrovia, killing 18
people, and witnesses said an eight-year-old boy was killed near the
Mamba Point hotel where many foreign journalists are staying.
Several
government soldiers fell in gunfights involving heavy and light
weapons near key bridges linking the center of the Liberian capital
leading to the rebel-held port area to the north, an AFP journalist
reported.
There
were an unspecified number of civilian casualties in the embassy
district of Mamba Point near the city center which came under heavy
shelling near the US embassy, one of which struck a building in the
compound.
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Civilians killed in Monrovia |
"The
U.S. Embassy has incurred one hit at a building housing the general
store. There's no injury in that specific attack," said
Lieutenant Commander Terrence Dudley.
The
mortar attack, which began at midday and sent some dozen missiles
hurtling into the nearby Atlantic Ocean, also hit an adjacent compound
for Liberian security guards working for the embassy. Dudley said one
of the guards was injured.
But
in Germany, a U.S. army spokesman said three people had been wounded,
one of them a U.S. journalist and two local guards, in the attack on
The embassy.
Embassy
personnel and journalists covering the arrival of the 41 U.S. troops
took shelter in the basement of the main embassy building.
The
new contingent, from the navy's special Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security
Team (FAST), flew in around aboard helicopter gun ships from
neighboring Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. They were to reinforce
another 35-strong team from the same unit, based in Spain, which
arrived in Monrovia last month.
"The
message is clear: America is beefing up security so that we can remain
in Monrovia in hostile conditions," Commander Dudley said.
The
first helicopter touched down at the seaside embassy at around 10:30
am (1030 GMT).
Some
aid workers and journalists flew back Monday to Freetown aboard the
helicopters that had brought in the soldiers.
But
less than two hours later, mortar shells came crashing down just
outside the embassy compound, apparently putting a temporary halt to
the deployment.
LURD
spokesman Charles Bennie, contacted by telephone in Nigeria, where he
is participating in peace talks with Liberian officials and
international mediators, denied his forces were behind Monday's
assault, which has brought the fighting to the doorstep of foreign
missions.
"As
far as I know, nobody has ordered our troops to shell the town. There
are only innocents in the town, so nobody can have given the
order," he told AFP. "We don't have heavy weapons, we just
have small mortars."
He
said Taylor's soldiers must have shelled the city "because they
are retreating. They want to provoke terror and panic amongst the
population."
Bush
“Monitoring”
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Bush said he was “monitoring” Liberia crisis |
Hours
after a shell slammed into the U.S. Embassy, Bush said he was
concerned for American personnel there, after a team of U.S. special
forces flew in to protect them.
"We
just sent a group of troops in to protect our interests and we are
concerned about our people in Liberia," Bush said at a joint
press conference with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"We
continue to monitor the situation very closely, we are working with
the United Nations to effect policy necessary to get the ceasefire
back in place.
"We
are working with ECOWAS to determine when they would be prepared to
move in the peacekeeper troops that I have said we would be willing to
help move in to Liberia."
Nigeria
said Monday it was ready to deploy the vanguard of a west African
peacekeeping force to Liberia as soon as regional leaders give it the
go-ahead.
The
United States has said that it will contribute in some as-yet
undefined way to strengthen the west African force, to be set up under
the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS).
The
chiefs of staff of the Nigerian, Ghanaian and Malian armed forces were
meeting Monday in Dakar to discuss arrangements for the peacekeeping
mission, ECOWAS spokeswoman Adrienne Diop said.
Nigeria
has offered Taylor exile in Nigeria if he agrees to step down and
allow the shaky peace process to get back under way. Taylor has
accepted but has not said when he will leave.
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