UN Mission to Look into US Embassy Shootout

A UN team is to visit Liberia in mid-May to gather information on shooting incidents that occurred in Monrovia on 18-19 September 1998, UN sources said. The five-member information-gathering mission led by James Ngobi, a former director of the Africa 1 Division at UN Headquarters, is scheduled to arrive in Monrovia on 16 May and complete its mission there on 22 May. The team, sent in response to a request from Liberia's government, left New York at the weekend for Nigeria. While there it will have "contacts with individuals who now reside in Nigeria and who were involved in the 18-19 September incidents," one source told IRIN. On 18 September 1998, a shootout occurred in Monrovia between Liberian government security forces and supporters of former faction leader Roosevelt Johnson. He and some of his group later fled to the US Embassy, where they sought refuge. More shooting ensued in which three Liberians were killed and two Americans wounded, news reports said. The US and Nigerian governments later arranged for Johnson and his group to be flown to Nigeria, where the former faction leader is in protective custody. According to news reports, the U.S. government accused Liberian troops of shooting at its embassy premises and demanded an apology from Monrovia. The Liberian government apologised but blamed the damage on Johnson's forces.