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Annan to discuss Liberia, other issues, with US President Bush on Monday

11 July – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today that if United States President George W. Bush were to decide that US troops should take part with West African forces in a peacekeeping mission in Liberia, he hoped "it wouldn't take them too long either to join."

Speaking to reporters in Mozambique where he is attending the African Union Summit, Mr. Annan said he would meet with President Bush in Washington, D.C., on Monday to discuss Liberia, among other issues.

He also said there had been "good discussion" among West African leaders about the situation in Liberia, and that he was hopeful the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would send in troops in the not-too-distant future.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners in Monrovia are still struggling to assist tens of thousands of refugees and displaced people in and around the war-torn capital.

Following weeks of looting, UNHCR says its operations are hampered by a shortage of vehicles - they were stolen - and a lack of fuel. Nevertheless, national staff and NGO partners are doing their best to help people scattered throughout the Monrovia area, focusing particularly on life-saving activities. Medical clinics have been set up in various locations and an ambulance service is being provided for critical cases.

The agency also reports that more than 600 Sierra Leonean refugees have so far been evacuated by ship from Monrovia, Liberia, to Freetown, Sierra Leone in a continuing UNHCR operation aimed at helping thousands return to their homeland. The MV Overbeck is able to make the return trip about every four days, carrying between 300 and 350 Sierra Leonean refugees each voyage.

According to evacuees interviewed by UNHCR staff in Freetown, most of the 15,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia want to leave the country. Some of the returnees said they had witnessed various abuses - including rape - by soldiers. They also said that some Sierra Leoneans were unable to leave because they had become separated from their children and were trying to find them.

In other news, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) continued to distribute food to displaced persons sheltered in the various parts of the city. About 40 centres have received food and WFP is planning to target food distribution to more than180, 000 people displaced by the fighting.