Thousands flee Monrovia's western suburbs

Thousands of terrified civilians on Saturday headed for the centre of the Liberian capital, Monrovia, fleeing the city's western suburbs as fighting between Liberian government soldiers and rebels escalated around Virginia and St. Paul Bridge, 10 km from the city centre. The civilians told IRIN that the rebels belonging to the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), were trying to dislodge the government fighters from the bridge and were heading closer to the city centre. This is the third time since June that the LURD has come close to the capital. In the last two attacks, hundreds of civilians were killed and at least 100,000 people displaced. Some of the displaced are camped in at least 84 sites in the city while those from the western suburbs had returned home. Both times, the rebels said they withdrew to avoid a humanitarian disaster, but government said they were pushed back. Duala, Caldwell, Logan Town and Gardenersville suburbs were the scene of chaos early on Saturday as the civilians, who have been displaced for the third time within a month and carried mattresses and other meagre properties on their heads, walked in long lines to the city centre. Crying children trotted by their sides. Sounds of heavy bombardment could be heard from the direction of the fighting through Saturday morning. The sounds died down by mid-morning but resumed again in the afternoon. Government militias piled onto pickup trucks and raced out of the city centre to the frontline. Panic hit the city centre, shops closed and most residents stayed inside their houses. Fuel stations ran out of petrol and vehicles were scarce on the roads. An official from the government-owned Liberia Petroleum Refinery Corporation told IRIN that the remaining fuel petrol in the country could only last a week. "If no vessel docks in Monrovia with fuel within one week, the country will be completely paralysed by lack of all petroleum products," the official said. Angry that the fighting had resumed, several hundred placard-waving youths took to the streets on Saturday morning to demonstrate for peace. Government security forces, however, dispersed them, firing into the air and whipping some. Liberian Defense Minister Daniel Chea toured the city later in the morning. "I'm just trying to reason with them [the demonstrators] to get off the street. There is no reason for them to be on the street with mortar fire just two and half miles away," he told reporters. In the Ghanaian capital, Accra, where Liberian peace talks are going on, the various groups began analysing a draft comprehensive peace document, which was released by West African mediators on Friday. Several delegates told IRIN that they would react to the proposals contained in the document by Monday. The mediators said they hoped for a final endorsement of the document by Tuesday, 22 July. Highly placed sources close to the Secretariat of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which brokered the talks, told IRIN on Saturday that the mediators had proposed that the delegates at the Accra Peace Conference select a president and a vice-president to head a transitional government. However, the composition of a 50-member transitional legislature, a 13-member cabinet and the judiciary would be finalised in Liberia later. "ECOWAS has decided on a two-tier system on the transitional governance issue after President Charles Taylor's exit," the source added. Current Vice-President Moses Blah will be expected to head an interim government until October 2003, when he will hand over the reins of government to the transitional administration. The transitional government would be in power for a one-year mandate after which general elections would be held in October 2004 for the inauguration of an elected government of Liberia by January 2005. The proposals also state that leaders of the three warring factions, the Liberian government, LURD and the second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), would not be eligible for cabinet positions within the transitional government. However, members of these groups who meet given criteria could put forward their names when the nomination process was opened. Though clause 8 of a ceasefire agreement signed on 17 June states that the restructuring of the security forces as well as disarmament and demobilization of all fighters will be discussed under the comprehensive peace document, the current draft remains silent on these issues. "These topics are still subject for negotiation and they will be tackled later," the source told IRIN. A comprehensive accord should have been reached by 17 July, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, but protracted disagreements between the Liberian groups delayed it. The ceasefire provided for an ECOWAS-led peacekeeping force to go into Liberia to stabilise the situation. ECOWAS expects to send an advance force of 1,000 people next week to try and secure the capital. The arrival of the peacekeeping force should enable President Charles Taylor to go into exile in Nigeria, as demanded by the rebels, US President George Bush and delegates in Accra. Bush has promised to send American troops to join ECOWAS to end Liberia's 14 year-old war, but only if Taylor, who is largely seen as responsible for the chaos in the West African country that was founded by freed American slaves in 1847, steps down and leaves Liberia. Taylor is also indicted on war crimes by a UN-backed court in neighboring Sierra Leone for supporting brutal rebels who murdered, raped and cut off people's limbs during that country's civil war of 1991-2001.