UN warns of tragedy as food shortages grow acute

Food shortages grew more accute in the Liberian capital Monrovia on Wednesday as rebel forces continued pounding the city centre with mortar fire and the United Nations warned that its one million population faced a humanitarian tragedy. Marc Destanne De Bernis, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Liberia, said: "Food and water supplies have become scarce, there is widespread malnutrition and tens of thousands of people do not have access to potable water. If the fighting does not stop immediately we will witness one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in the region." Bernis, who was speaking from Freetown in neighbouring Sierra Leone on Monday, said aid agencies were unable to access food supplies at warehouses in the port of Monrovia, which was not behind rebel lines. Fighters of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement launched a fresh attack on Monrovia a week ago following the complete breakdown of a June 17 ceasefire agreement with the government of President Charles Taylor. On Wednesday morning, heavy bombardments could be heard in Monrovia city centre, western and northern suburbs. Three shells landed near the northern Gardnersville residential estate, killing eight people, residents told IRIN by telephone. Defence Minister Daniel Chea told the French news agency AFP: "They are pounding our positions in the Stockton Creek bridge area with 81 mm mortars. This morning they shelled central Monrovia from about 5:00 GMT to 5:30 GMT, then shifted their attention elsewhere." LURD said fighting had resumed because government forces had attacked its positions. "We want a ceasefire, but the government is trying to push us back. Yesterday we stopped our fighters, but government forces launched an attack on us," Charles Bennie, LURD Political Advisor told IRIN in Abidjan by telephone. "As long as the government continues to attack our positions, the fighting will continue." Residents of the city centre, who have been trapped indoors for five days by street fighting, said they were running out of food and water. In the quieter eastern suburbs, where a few shops were still open on Wednesday, the price of a 50 kg bag of rice had more than doubled from US $20 to $50 in the space of a week. Relief agencies say more than 200,000 people - one in five of Monrovia's inhabitants - have been displaced from their homes by the fighting. These people rely on food handouts from the UN World Food Programme (WFP). But the agency suspended food distribution last week, saying it had become too dangeerous for its staff to work in the embattled city. "Thousands of people are crowded into churches, schools and other temporary shelters without running water or food. Many of them need help now but as long as the fighting continues there is no way that we can get supplies to them," Gregory Blamo of WFP said. WFP said some estimates showed the number of displaced people had risen to 300,000. "This crisis is rapidly turning into a humanitarian catastrophe," Justin Bagirishya, WFP's Country Director for Liberia, said. "What makes it worse is that we have food stocks already in Monrovia but it is far too dangerous to try to distribute them...the longer the clashes continue, the worse the crisis will become," Bagirishya added. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was treating 202 war-wounded. At least 100 people have been killed and over 300 injured during the past week of fighting in Monrovia. Most of the casualties have been civilians. LURD said it was ready to cooperate with any relief agencies who wanted to access food stocks in the port of Monrovia, but none had asked. Bennie told IRIN: "We would have no problem with that because we all want the suffering to stop. But we need a request from somebody who wants to deliver food,". The deputy head of operations in the Liberian police force, Saar Gollie, told reporters that incidents of harassment, rape and intimidation of civilians in Monrovia were on the rise. Two girls aged 10-15 were reported raped by armed men in the government-controlled suburb of Gardnersville on Monday. Monrovia residents have also reported a sharp rise in looting by government soldiers and militiamen since the latest rebel assault on the city started.