US assessment team to visit displaced people

A day after arriving in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, the 32-man United States military and humanitarian assessment mission prepared on Tuesday afternoon to drive out in an eight-vehicle convoy to visit camps for displaced people in the Brewersville suburbs, west of the city. Earlier in the morning, pro-government militias had stopped the Americans from driving beyond the Iron Gate checkpoint, 3 km west of Monrovia. The militias said they had not received any instructions to grant access for the Americans past the checkpoint which is near the camps. A government official contacted by IRIN in Monrovia said the Americans did not follow the proper diplomatic channels before venturing out, including telling the Liberian authorities where they would exactly visit. Washington sent the assessment to Monrovia against widespread belief that it would send troops to join a West African force to enforce a ceasefire between government and rebels fighters and end 14-years of civil war which have wracked the West African country. President George Bush, who demands that Liberian President Charles Taylor steps down, discussed the crisis with West African presidents in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, on Tuesday. Bush is on a five-nation tour of Africa. He pledged to work with the United Nations and African states to maintain the ceasefire in Liberia, but added that no decision had been made yet on sending US peacekeepers. "The United States will work with ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States). The United Nations will be involved," Bush told reporters in Dakar. "We're in the process of determining what is necessary to maintain the ceasefire and to allow for a peaceful transition of power," Bush said. On 6 July, Taylor had said he would step down and take up asylum in Nigeria after meeting Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in Monrovia. But Taylor did not state when he would leave Liberia. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday welcomed Taylor's decision to resign from office and leave the country "in the interest of peace". Annan said this was the first step towards the establishment of lasting democracy, describing it as "a significant turning point as Liberia strives to move from war to peace." Annan called on Liberians to build on this momentum and work together in the spirit of national reconciliation to help restore lasting democracy in the country, a statement issued by Annan's spokesman in New York said. He called for an inclusive and orderly transitional arrangement for Liberia, as envisaged in the 17 June ceasefire agreement, adding that concrete immediate steps should be taken to end widespread suffering and oppression which warlords, militia forces and other armed groups had for far too long inflicted on the Liberian society. "The Secretary-General reminds all concerned that they would be held individually and collectively accountable for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and war crimes," the statement said. In a related development, Amnesty International said Obasanjo's offer of asylum to Taylor not only flouted international law, but "does nothing to further a just and lasting peace in Liberia". Taylor is facing an indictment by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law falling within the jurisdiction of the Court. "On 4 June, when the indictment against Taylor was made public by the court, the government of Ghana failed to arrest him while he was in Accra, Now the government of Nigeria is also violating its obligations under international law by promising that no legal action will be taken against Taylor if he leaves Liberia for Nigeria," the organisation said in a statement on Monday. "Each state which is party to the Geneva Conventions - as is Nigeria - is under an obligation to bring to justice in its own courts those who have committed or ordered grave breaches of the Conventions, to extradite them to another country willing and able to do so or transfer them to an international criminal court," it said adding: "There is no exception: it applies to Nigeria and it applies to President Taylor." Meanwhile, lack of adequate food, medication, water and sanitation, shelter and other essentials continued to make life very difficult for the internally displaced people) sheltering in churches, schools, mosques, government ministries and the SKD Sports stadium, World Vision reported on Tuesday.