Rebels try to encircle Monrovia as heavy fighting continues

Rebel forces continued to pound the Liberian capital Monrovia with mortar fire on Monday as fierce street fighting continued in the city centre and rebel reinforcements moved to cut off roads to the interior. The government of President Charles Taylor, who has promised to step down as soon as West African peacekeeping forces arrive in the country, swore to battle on. But many government fighters took advantage of the chaos on Monday to break into closed shops in the city centre in a fresh wave of looting. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds have been wounded since the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement launched its third attack on Monrovia in less than two months on July 17. The Italian Missionary Service News Agency reported that at least 20 displaced people were killed on Saturday when a shell landed in the Freemasons hall in the city centre, where they had gathered to take shelter. And a Liberian employee of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres was killed on Sunday when a mortar hit his home. Relief workers in the beleaguered city of one million people said three civilians died on Monday when several mortar shells landed near the US embassy in the Mamba Point diplomatic district. "Shooting and shelling close to our hospitals is making it nearly impossible for us to treat our patients safely," Alain Kassa, MSF head of mission in Monrovia said. "Yesterday, a bullet landed in the middle of our hospital's pediatric ward even as war wounded civilians continued to arrive. Today, we fear the fighting in the streets is so intense that the wounded cannot be transported to the hospital for treatment," he said, adding that MSF medical staff were looking after more than 80 wounded civilians. The United States said on Monday it had ordered a further 41 specialist troops to Liberia to reinforce security at its embassy in Monrovia, but Washington has not yet said whether it will send a larger contingent of soldiers to spearhead an international intervention force in the war-torn country. Several thousand displaced people have crowded around the US embassy and UN offices seeking shelter from the fighting. Relief workers said water was running out since the trucks that used to deliver it, were unable to drive through the fighting. "The humanitarian situation in Liberia continues to deteriorate rapidly as thousands continue to seek shelter and protection in Monrovia and its suburbs," the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement. At least 200,000 displaced people were scattered in 92 temporary shelters in the city along with an additional 14,000 Sierra Leonean refugees, OCHA said. Hundreds of thousands more were believed to be trapped by fighting in other parts of the country. Military sources told IRIN that LURD fighters advanced further into central Monrovia on Monday morning, shooting their way along Somalia Drive towards the eastern suburbs, where Taylor and most government officials live Sounds of heavy bombardment echoed across Monrovia throughout the weekend as LURD forces battled their way into the city from the northwest, seizing control of the deep water port on Bushrod Island and crossing two key bridges to the city centre. The downtown area, containing the main shops and government offices and the diplomatic quarter, is situated on a long narrow peninsula, bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and on the other by a swampy lagoon. Military sources said the rebels were moving reinforcements from Bong county in northern Liberia towards Kakata, a government-held town 54 km north of Monrovia, on the main road that connects the capital to the interior. They said LURD was attempting to encircle the city in order to cut this main highway from Monrovia to Liberia's international airport further east. But the government vowed to battle on. "Nobody retreats and nobody surrenders. This is a battle for survival," army chief of staff General Benjamin Yeaten told Reuters news agency on Monday. "It may be the last battle for them. It may be the last battle for us." On Sunday night, government officials displayed 12 bodies at the main Monrovia police station and told reporters they were LURD fighters who had been killed in the capital. Military sources said meanwhile that a pick-up truck full of government militiamen had been blown up by the rebels. Radio Veritas, a radio station run by the Roman Catholic church, went off the air on Saturday. Staff at the station told IRIN that two mortar shells landed in the station's compound, damaging its equipment and six vehicles. The handful of foreign journalists covering the conflict suffered their first casualty on Saturday when Patrick Robert, a French journalist for Time magazine, was shot in the shoulder as he tried to take pictures of the fighting in the city centre. A French diplomat in neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire said on Monday he was in a stable condition.