Two ships seized in Harper to evacuate 3,500

Forces loyal to Liberian President Charles Taylor commandeered two cargo ships in the southeastern port of Harper, which fell to rebels at the weekend, and used them to evacuate about 3,500 people, relief workers said on Wednesday. The Croatian freighter Benty was diverted to the capital Monrovia with about 1,500 refugees from the fighting on board, while the Ghanaian-registered Sandra was diverted to the government-held port of Buchanan carrying about 2,000 people, they added. The Sandra had earlier been earmarked by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to repatriate displaced Guinean nationals from Harper, Denis Gravel, IOM's Chief of Mission in Abidjan told IRIN. "Negotiations were going on to hire the MV Sandra. But we learnt that it has been taken by armed men," he said. "The repatriation could now be delayed by two weeks." The Sandra was seized and diverted after the Benty was forced by armed men to carry 1,500 refugees from Harper to Monrovia on Sunday. The Benty docked at Bong Mines Pier in the Liberian capital on Tuesday, but the Sandra sailed to Buchanan, a port 120 km east of Monrovia. The sources said it was unclear where the 2,000 people who had croweded on board the Ghanaian ship had gone. The IOM had been planning to charter the Sandra to repatriate 1,000 West Africans trapped by the civil war in Liberia from Harper. However, the organisation has now withdrawn its staff from the port and has suspended operations there. "We are disturbed that ships are being diverted," Stuwe Jorg, IOM director of movement management told IRIN on telephone from Geneva. "We are not going to move people by sea in Liberia until the situation is clearer." Relief workers said the Sandra had gone to Liberia to pick up a cargo of rubber from Harper for shipment to Ghana. The Benty arrived in the port on 14 May to pick up a cargo of timber. It was the vessel's first trip to Liberia. Harper, a key timber export port, fell to the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), a new rebel group that emerged earlier this year, after several days of intense fighting. Diplomats say it is heavily supported by the government of Cote d'Ivoire. The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that as a result of the fighting at Harper at least 10,000 people had fled across the nearby border into Cote d'Ivoire. About 1,200 Ivorian refugees and 800 people from other West African countries, who were awaiting repatriation from Harper by sea, were caught up in the battle for the port. Most of them had gone to Harper to escape fighting near Zwedru further inland. They originally entered Liberia to escape from the civil war in Cote d'Ivoire. Relief workers in Monrovia said those on board the Benty included government soldiers armed with AK-47 rifles. All those on board the ship had disembarked, they added. The vessel arrived in Monrovia with looted beds, mattresses and motorbikes suspected of belonging to relief agencies. The sources said government fighters looted the offices and warehouses of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Danish Refugee Council before they pulled out of Harper. Ramin Rafirasme, WFP spokesman told IRIN that a group of armed men looted a WFP warehouse, run by the Lutheran World Federation. They took a pickup vehicle and communication equipment, he added.