Government reports fierce fighting in southeast

The Liberian government reported fierce fighting between its forces and rebels of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) for control of the port city of Greenville, Sinoe county, some 250 km southeast of the capital, Monrovia. "Our forces are engaging the rebels in Greenville at all fronts. We have used surrounding villages to encircle the rebels' positions," defense minister, Daniel Chea, who said he had returned from area told reporters on Sunday. Chea said a navy gun boat was attacking the rebels from the Atlantic Ocean. Because of this, the Liberian defense ministry had advised all ships navigating on the its territorial waters to remain 15 nautical miles off the shores of Greenville. MODEL, a new rebel group that Liberia claims is supported by neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire, seized Greenville on April 26 after it took control of Grand Gedeh county near the northwestern Ivorian border. The Liberian defense minister also said that a "detailed investigation" into circumstances leading to the killing of war crimes fugitive Sam Bockarie last week in Monrovia, had been ordered. The investigation team, Chea said, would comprise of senior Liberian army chiefs. Bockarie was killed days after the UN-backed Court in Sierra Leone requested the Liberian government to turn him over, along with former Sierra Leonean junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma. The court said the two fugitives were hiding in Liberia. The Liberian government said Bockarie was killed when he and some bodyguards were spotted crossing into Liberia near the Ivorian border town of Bin-Houin. His swollen body along with two of his body guards was later displayed. But diplomats in Monrovia said they believed Bockarie was killed in Monrovia after a disagreement with Taylor possibly to "destroy evidence".. "There was a very clear order to the joint security forces to apprehend and turn him over to the Sierra Leonean government," Chea said. Government sources told IRIN that the Sierra Leonean embassy in Monrovia and the Liberian government were concluding arrangements to return Bockarie's body to Sierra Leone by the end of the week. Meanwhile, President Charles Taylor, has accused Guinean troops of using mortars to shell the commercial city of Ganta, in Nimba County. Taylor visited the central Liberian provincial headquarters of Gbarnga, 150 km north of Monrovia over the weekend. Ganta, 247 km northeast of Monrovia, was captured by the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) in march. But government has been fighting to regain control from the LURD. Taylor said his government would not be drawn into confrontation with Guinea, a country he had complained about to the UN security Council in March over its support to the LURD.