Johannesburg — As the bloody and bitter 10-day fight continued Monday, for control of the Liberian capital Monrovia, rebel factions were reported to have made advances in other parts of the country, spreading the civil war in this already embattled country.
Clashes continued in Monrovia on Monday between government forces and rebels from the armed group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), which is attempting to overthrow President Charles Taylor.
Meanwhile an all-out assault by a second rebel militia, known as the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model), opened a new front against Taylors beleaguered forces in Liberias strategic southeastern second town, Buchanan, 100km (60 miles) south of the capital and the only remaining port still under government control.
Late Monday, rebels claimed to have captured Buchanan. But Liberian Defence Minister, Daniel Chea, who rushed overnight to the eastern front, told the BBC that neither government troops nor the rebels were in control of the city.
The offensive by Model fighters was announced by Taylors most senior general, Benjamin Yeaten, who confirmed that they had entered the city, saying; "We received attack in Buchanan. There is fighting going on there now."
In recent days, thousands of terrified Liberians have flooded into Buchanan, desperate to escape the shelling, mortars and indiscriminate machine gun fire and grenade blasts that have rocked Monrovia. On Monday, many of the refugees were again on the move, heading back to an uncertain future in the capital.
Model is a smaller fighting force than Lurd, but is reputed to be better disciplined than the main rebel faction. Model is a splinter group of Lurd and there is reported to be no love lost between the two militias, leading to fears that animosity could further complicate an already intractable and confused military situation.
Infighting and splits within Lurd itself as well as questionable communications between the fighters on the ground and the political leadership negotiating in Ghana, make matters worse. There were contradictory statements from both sides during last week's heavy fighting in Monrovia.
Elsewhere in Liberia, in the country's central region, Lurd was reported to have attacked the city of Gbarnga, Taylors former stronghold during his years as a rebel leader.
No date for peacekeepers
Meanwhile, West African military officials met all day Monday in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to prepare for the deployment of the Nigerian-led peacekeeping force to Liberia. Despite working on the details, no firm date was set for the peacekeepers to be sent in to keep apart the fighting factions and allow vital humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians trapped in Monrovia.
The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, expressed outrage Monday at the continuing fighting in Liberia. He called on all sides to stop and observe a ceasefire, agreed last month, to spare the lives of civilians. "I would appeal to the factions in Liberia to honour the ceasefire agreement they have signed," said Annan.
Although the UN chief said he was pleased to see the United States putting military plans in place for possible intervention in Liberia, Annan expressed some frustration at the delay in sending a regional peacekeeping force to Liberia. "For the moment we would want to see Ecowas (Economic Community of West African States) troops deployed and Im happy that the U.S. ships are sailing towards Liberia and I expect the US troops will have an important role to play."
U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday ordered warships, carrying naval personnel and marines, to take up positions off Liberias Atlantic Coast and stand by in preparation for a possible peace mission.
But America's deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, reiterated that U.S. forces en route to Liberia would only be sent in once a ceasefire was in place and President Taylor had stepped down. Wolfowitz rejected criticism that Washington had failed to prevent the battle for Monrovia by not sending troops in earlier. He said it was up to Liberias neighbours and the United Nations to take the lead in resolving the conflict.
Freed American slaves founded the Republic of Liberia in the 19th century. The two countries have maintained close links since then, prompting calls from Liberians, and from other Western powers, for Washington to take a more decisive military role in trying to end the crisis in Liberia, by putting "boots on the ground".
Wolfowitz insisted that this was precisely what the U.S. was doing. "We are not hanging back from assisting. We are assisting and we are taking responsibility in Liberia that the British have taken in Sierra Leone and the French in the Ivory Coast. But it is very important, if we are going to succeed in dealing with a large number of unstable places of the world, that countries of the region - in this case Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal - who have the capability and have expressed the will to do this job, be in the lead and that the UN be in the lead with dealing with the complex political problems of Liberia," said Wolfowitz.
Such sentiments will be of little comfort to hundreds of thousands of Liberians cowering in Monrovia and many others facing renewed displacement now that Buchanan has also come under fire. Regional peacekeepers were promised shortly after the rebels first launched their assault on Monrovia. But for more than a month Liberians have been waiting for the arrival of the West African troops. Disputes over funding have delayed deployment.
In some of the heaviest fighting so far in the battle for Monrovia, government forces held off a rebel offensive in clashes, at the weekend, centred on two key bridges leading downtown, into the heart of the city. Taylors forces were reported to have used rocket propelled grenades to push back the advancing rebels towards the suburbs. There were more reported civilian casualties.
In a bloody week of fighting, rockets fell on churches and schools in the city where displaced people have sought refuge since the beginning of the second round of fighting. "There is no safe place in Monrovia today, one can be hit by a bullet or a bomb anywhere. There is no shelter," said a resident reached by telephone in the city.
But the rebels continued their offensive, despite an appeal by John Blaney, the American ambassador in Liberia, for them to pull back and agree to a demarcation line at the key Po River Bridge, north of Monrovia, so that relief workers could help civilians. The Liberian government has already pledged its support, but the rebels said they would give up their positions only to a foreign peacekeeping force.
Annan, Washington warn rebels
Annan warned Lurd, as its forces continued to besiege Monrovia, to heed Blaney's appeal for them to stop shelling the city, action which has cost many lives and left hundreds injured. "I think by this reckless behaviour, that is killing many innocent Liberians and making it impossible us to deliver humanitarian assistance, they are disqualifying themselves from holding any future role in Liberia's life," Annan told the rebels.
Washington announced Monday that it was sending the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Walter Kansteiner, to West Africa for talks on the continuing Liberia conflict, as the U.S. delivered a stern warning to Model rebels who attacked Buchanan.
The itinerary of America's top Africa diplomat was not immediately clear. But State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said Washington would continue to push for a truce between the rival forces in Liberia.
Boucher also warned Model that Washington would hold the rebels responsible for the assault on Buchanan, which he said could create problems for the deployment of a peacekeeping force. "We urged the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, in the strongest terms, to avoid worsening the situation and especially not to attack the port in Buchanan."
Boucher noted that such action would undermine all the efforts being made to deploy an international force to stabilise the situation and efforts to reach a peace accord in Ghana. "We will hold this group responsible for its actions," he added, echoing the view first expressed Sunday by Ambassador Blaney.
Meanwhile in Ghana, West Africas top military brass, Western advisors and diplomats met for a series of planning sessions in Accra. Correspondents in Ghana reported that there was representation from the U.S. militarys European Command, as well as the UN, and French and British officers.
Nothing conclusive came out of the military meetings in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, Monday, except the name of the new Ecowas peacekeeping force, which will be called Ecomil (Ecowas military mission in Liberia). The regional force commander, Nigerian Brigadier General Festus Okonkwo, who will oversee the operations, said they were busy mobilising logistics to enable them to deploy the peacekeepers, adding, "as soon as logistics are set, we will be ready to go in. Right now we dont have a date, we dont know."
A Nigerian military spokesman, Colonel Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu, had said earlier Monday that deployment could come as soon as Tuesday. But Okonkwo was quoted as saying he thought deployment this week "unlikely". He concluded that, although these preparatory stages might seem like heel dragging, careful planning was critical, otherwise the mission would fail and simply compound the crisis in Liberia.
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"Whatever peacekeeping force is coming to Liberia should be there today because tomorrow may be too late. As we sit here and discuss a non-violent way to find a way out of the crisis, people at home are dying by numbers! Whatever anyone wants to do to help Liberia must be sped up," Dr. Togba na Tipoteh, Chairman of the Liberian Peoples Party (LPP), told AllAfrica, speaking from Ghana where he is a participant at the Liberia peace talks.
Events on the ground in Monrovia have overtaken the political negotiations of the past two months in Ghana between armed, civil and political Liberian groups, searching for a peaceful settlement under the auspices of the Ecowas. Ghana is the current chair of the regional organisation.
The civil war in Liberia is expected to be a priority on the agenda during a visit to London by Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo this week. Obasanjo, whose country is the regional military power in West Africa and will command Ecomil, is due to meet the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as well as the head of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn.
The U.S. has contributed US$10m to pay for initial procurement and for getting West African peacekeepers to Liberia. But an estimated $US110m is needed to cover the planned deployment of the 3,000-strong regional force to Liberia for six months. The Nigerians are requesting more financial assistance from Washington.
However the mandate of the West African army remains unclear and it is not yet known whether the troops will be given orders to enforce as well as keep the peace. "Fighting discourages rather than encourages regional peacekeeping forces to get involved, the factions must stop fighting," one Ghanaian military advisor confided in the BBC.
A team from the UN peacekeeping operations department is currently in Ghana to assess how ready the country is to deploy soldiers, after an initial vanguard of Nigerian troops has been sent in. The UN group will also review the military readiness of other West African countries that have pledged troops to Ecomil.
Additional reporting by Abdoulaye Dukule
