Rebels take Gbah, four killed

Rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) group on Monday attacked and captured Gbah town, 43 km northwest of Liberia's capital, Monrovia, sources from the capital told IRIN. A diplomatic source said on Wednesday they had received reports of the fall of Gbah, but the government had downplayed and dismissed the event. Monday was a market day in Gbah, he added. The rebels, the source said, were reported to have killed several government troops, sent several others fleeing and captured five including a general. The prisoners also apparently led them to an armoury where they [rebels] collected considerable amounts of arms and ammunition, the source said. "We also received information that four people were killed in an ambush, one of them a taxi driver, on the road near Gbah," the source said. The bodies of the four were brought to Monrovia on Tuesday where taxi drivers paraded the burnt remains of their colleague through the streets in protest against the prevailing security situation. "Although the capital itself was quiet today [Wednesday] with no indication of any problem, security in the country in general is getting worse, It is quite fluid and volatile," he said. Unconfirmed reports, he said, indicated the rebels wanted to reach Monrovia by 26 July, Liberia's independence day. Defense Minister Daniel Chea described the attack on Gbah as "a small rebel infiltration" and said no government troops were killed, the Associated Press (AP) reported. He was quoted as saying the attack was carried out by rebels who came from nearby Tubmanburg, but who were eventually driven out by the army. Chea said the rebels appeared to have decided to attack towns on market days to cause maximum civilian casualties. The Defense Ministry had asked the government to cancel all market days for the duration of the war, AP quoted Chea as saying. In a statement on Wednesday, LURD said it had captured both Gbah and Klay which is 60 km northwest of Monrovia. It blamed the killing of the civilians on government forces. LURD rebels have fought to oust President Taylor's government since 1998. Recent efforts to have a dialogue between the rebels and the government have not yielded much results. Last week, a military team from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met President Charles Taylor to discuss peace but Taylor reportedly told them that his government was interested in the Rabat initiative brokered in February by King Mohammed VI of Morocco. The initiative involves the presidents of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, news agencies reported. The three are scheduled to meet on Thursday in Rabat to review the initiative.