Government says rebels beaten back, fighting continues

The Liberia government on Tuesday said its forces had beaten back "serious threats" from rebel fighters at Klay junction, some 35 km north of the capital Monrovia, and from the Bomi provincial seat of Tubmanburg, 60 km north. The war to repulse the rebels was continuing, Jeff Mutanda, Assistant Minister for Public Affairs in the Information Ministry, told IRIN. He denied allegations that the crisis in the country could have been stage-managed by the government. "Nobody is stage-managing a fight. The rebels moved from 350 km to 35 km of the capital and caused a mass exodus of people. I am aware of several casualties from the fighting in Klay, Sawmill and Bopolou - killed or in hospital. But the marginal line has been pushed back 50 km", Mutanda said. The minister said the government was not monitoring civilians who wanted to leave the country and had reversed an earlier requirement for exit visas. "These are war times. We had wanted to re-introduce exit visas for citizens wanting to leave the country. But the decision was reversed within 24 hours", he said. Liberian journalists in the USA, on Monday called on President Charles Taylor to lift the state of emergency he imposed on 8 February, saying there was growing suspicion that the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country was being stage-managed. "We hope that this crisis is not being orchestrated, at the cost of innocent lives, to serve the political interests of Taylor or the LURD (Liberia United for Reconciliation and Development) rebels," the journalists said. The LURD are the rebel group fighting against the government of President Charles Taylor. On 11 February, Amnesty International had also called on Liberia's government to stop using the state of emergency as a justification by security forces to abuse power and commit human rights violations against civilians. Aid workers in the capital, Monrovia, told IRIN on Tuesday, the city remained quiet, although refugees from Sierra Leone continued to be repatriated by UNHCR.