| Liberian President vows to fight to the death This weekend, the situation in Liberia sharply deteriorated again. Rebel troops launched another attack on the capital Monrovia. They managed to capture the strategically important St. Paul's Bridge, which allowed them to attack the city center. From there last night there were conflicting reports, including the news (it was not confirmed) about the capture of the capital by the rebels. President Charles Taylor, in a national radio address, urged supporters to "defend the city to the last drop of blood." In the evening, as stated by the commander of the government army, General Benjamin Yeten, fighting took place around the seaport. According to the Ministry of Defense, 20 civilians have already been killed.
This is the third attempt by the opposition to storm Monrovia in the past month. Fighting continues despite the ceasefire agreement. Each side says it is forced to defend itself. True, this time the truce was violated by the rebels.
It seems that they are not giving up hope of forcefully removing President Charles Taylor, who does not want to give up power. It seems that there was already an agreement that Nigeria would provide him with asylum. But at the last moment he announced that he would not go anywhere until international peacekeeping forces arrived in the country.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has agreed to send troops to Liberia. This decision was approved by the just held summit of the African Union. However, foreign troops never arrived in the civil war-torn country. The issue of US participation in the peacekeeping mission is even less clear. Despite calls from the UN and European allies to intervene, Washington is stubbornly playing for time. After the latest outbreak of violence, Liberians, in despair, brought the bodies of the dead to the walls of the American embassy, begging for help, but this had no effect. And now the US Ambassador to Liberia John Blaney only called on the rebels to stop the offensive and warned: “The world is watching your behavior. The United States expects you to take action to ensure the safety of civilians."
One gets the impression that the Americans hope that the rebels will eventually overthrow Charles Taylor, and the need to intervene in a protracted conflict fraught with unpredictable consequences will disappear by itself. Or at the very least, military pressure from the opposition guerrilla fronts will force the Liberian leader to go home, and international intervention will become much safer. Igor TARUTIN |
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