Fighting again delays deployment of peacekeepers

The deployment of West African Peacekeepers (ECOMIL) into the volatile central Liberia was delayed again on Monday due to renewed fighting between Liberian government troops and rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). ECOMIL spokesman Major Ogun Sanya told IRIN that reports of fighting around the town of Todee, northwest of the capital Monrovia, had delayed plans by ECOMIL to deploy about 600 Guinea-Bissau troops to Kakata, 45 km and Totota, 109 km north of the capital Monrovia. "When our reconnaissance team returns from Todee today, we will see how feasible it is to deploy troops in the interior. It is unlikely that any deployment will take place today," Major Sanya said in Monrovia. The Guinea-Bissau peacekeepers should have been deployed on Sunday. However the plan was halted by the Liberian Defense Minister Daniel Chea at the last minute, saying he needed to remove government check points from the highway leading to northern Liberia. Relief workers said at least 10,000 displaced people had fled the fighting at Todee, 40 km from Monrovia, and were walking along the main road towards the capital. Todee, which lies near Bomi County in the west, is in government-controlled Montserrado County and was once a training base for the Liberian army in the 1980s. Bomi County is a strong hold for the LURD. Both government and LURD blamed each other for starting the latest fighting on Sunday evening. Chea told IRIN on Monday that LURD rebels attacked his forces positioned in Todee, wounding a number of government fighters. "This government thought it expedient to report such violation of the ceasefire agreement to ECOMIL. They have dispatched a reconnaissance team to the area." However, the LURD spokesman in Monrovia, Alhaji Sekou Fofana, told IRIN in a separate interview on Monday that his forces were fighting back in "self-defense" following an attack by government fighters on Sunday. "Government fighters began firing at our positions across the St. Paul River from Todee last Sunday evening in attempt to get into the upper Bomi County. Our forces being on high alert pushed them back," he said. "LURD has no plan for further advancement and there is no need to panic. We were just simply defending our positions. We will remain across the St. Paul in Bomi and not in Todee," Fofana added. Last week skirmishes were reported between Liberian government troops and LURD rebels near Totota. At least 50,000 IDPS sheltering in four camps around Totota fled southwards to Salala, 20 km further south, and Kakata. ECOMIL sent a patrol from Monrovia up the road to Totota to try and restore confidence among the frightened civilians while two Harrier ground attack jets from a US naval task force offshore roared overhead. But Liberian government commanders said fighting with LURD continued at the village of Kolela about 20 km west of Totota.