Liberia Fighting Escalates; Mortar Bomb Hits U.S. Embassy
By SOMINI SENGUPTA with KIRK SEMPLE
MONROVIA, Liberia, July 21 — At least one mortar bomb fell on the American embassy in the capital of Liberia during intense fighting between rebels and government troops today as the first members of a contingent of 41 American Marines arrived to bolster security on embassy property.
The mortar round hit the embassy commissary as embassy staff and several dozen reporters were huddled inside a building in the complex, but no injuries were reported.
In the most intense day of fighting since rebels opposed to President Charles G. Taylor began to push into the city three weeks ago, the area around the embassy was subject to intense shelling and another mortar bomb struck a nearby compound owned by the American Embassy, injuring two Liberian security guards.
A reporter for Newsweek suffered minor injuries from shrapnel and was treated by medical personnel at the embassy.
Scenes of carnage and mayhem played out on the city streets, especially in the neighborhood of the American embassy. Screaming, wailing Liberians piled mutilated corpses in front of the embassy's shuttered gates, and a little boy carrying a plastic bag of greens was killed instantly when a piece of shrapnel punctured his head.
During brief interludes in the shelling, injured people hobbled out onto the streets; women clutched babies with head wounds, and others suffered from twisted limbs and fresh body wounds.
Liberian and American officials could not confirm whether the bombs were coming from the rebel side or the government side.
There were no official death counts but initial reports put the toll at about 50. The main city hospital was reported to be secure but the roads leading to and from the building were growing increasingly dangerous.
Shortly after the first team of Marines arrived today, 25 Americans and other Western nationals were evacuated in Pavehawk military helicopters. The group included United Nations officials, aid workers and two journalists.
A spokeswoman for the United States European Central Command in Stuttgart, Germany, said 23 of the people were Americans and included four military personnel and 19 American civilians.
The Marines joined the embassy's regular security force and 15 other Marines that were flown in on July 7 to accompany a humanitarian survey team that has been analyzing how the United States might help to end Liberia's armed conflict.
The arrival of the Marines pushes the number of American troops on the ground in Liberia to "more than 70" though fewer than 100, said Capt. Sarah Kerwin, the spokeswoman for the United States European Command. Captain Kerwin said the contingent's "primary mission is to enhance security," but she said the Marines will be prepared to evacuate the embassy if the State Department gives a formal evacuation order.
"They have the capability should it be needed," she said. "None of those words have been used, but should the need arrive, they can do it."
Captain Kerwin added: "They're taking mortar rounds. You can probably say that's a hairy situation."
Today's shelling was a continuation of fighting that broke out on Sunday as anti-government rebels pushed into the city, the government's last stronghold.
The rebel assault, the third in six weeks, was the fiercest and most sustained of the three.
Reports from witnesses in several neighborhoods suggested that the rebel army, whose only stated goal is to oust President Taylor, tried first to come into the city's center from the north on Sunday, then from the east. The day's fighting wounded dozens of civilians, swelled the temporary camps to bursting and risked a breakout of disease.
As Liberia descended further into chaos, peacekeepers promised by other West African countries had yet to arrive. President Bush, who has offered assistance to those peacekeepers, said last week that he was considering sending in American troops for a mission of limited scope and duration, provided that Mr. Taylor stepped aside. Liberia, which has historic links to the United States, has been unstable for many years.
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Liberia Fighting Escalates; Mortar Bomb Hits U.S. Embassy
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"We don't see any sign of the fighting stopping," said Prince Jallabah, stranded in his apartment on one side of a bridge leading to the city center. Bursts of gunfire and shelling sent other people dashing through the streets for cover.
Stray bullets punctured the windows of a Roman Catholic school compound that now houses hundreds of displaced Monrovians. "One every half hour," Sister Barbara Brilliant, an American nun who runs the school, said this evening. "That's why we are on the floor."
By Sunday evening, rebels appeared in control of the port, while the government held the airport, on the city's outskirts. Downtown remained in government hands, and on Sunday afternoon, forces loyal to Mr. Taylor took advantage of that by going on a looting spree. Witnesses described armed men, as well as civilians, grabbing prizes: one had a kerosene stove, others had shoes and toys.
Bizarrely, a statement by the rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, said it had no intention of capturing Monrovia. Later, a rebel figure, Kabineh Janeh, said by telephone from Ghana, where both sides said they remained in peace talks, that the advance was simply to stop assaults on rebel positions outside the city. "We are asking our troops to exercise restraint," Mr. Janeh added. "We do not wish to take over Monrovia."
Mr. Taylor, elected in 1997 after waging a guerrilla insurgency lasting eight years, promised to step aside but has refused to leave until peacekeepers arrive. Mr. Taylor, widely denounced for worsening the region's troubles, has been accused of providing aid to rebels in Sierra Leone in exchange for diamonds.
The violence has made most of the city impassable.
The already jam-packed, unhealthy shantytowns of people displaced by the fighting swelled once again, and a dwindling water supply, combined with a dearth of toilets, threatened to send cholera spinning out of control.
"We've got drugs, we've got staff, but if we can't get water in here, it will get really nasty," said Magnus Wolfe Murray, country manager for Merlin, the agency that runs health clinics and builds toilets at Greystone, a jammed United States Embassy-owned compound across from the chancery.
At Greystone, once a storage yard, the population doubled in the last day to more than 20,000, the agency estimates. |
