VOA News
23 Jul 2003, 20:41 UTC
West African leaders have decided to send a vanguard force of at least 1,300 Nigerian troops to Liberia to bring peace to the devastated nation.
The general in charge of political and military affairs for ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, tells VOA Wednesday that two battalions will arrive in the capital, Monrovia, no later than August 5. General Sheikh Omar Diarra says the soldiers will secure a cease-fire and set up a separation zone between Liberian government troops and rebel fighters trying to oust President Charles Taylor.
General Diarra said West African ministers ordered the troop deployment during a meeting in Senegal on Tuesday. He said the force will be made up of one battalion from a United Nations force in neighboring Sierra Leone and another directly from Nigeria.
Fighting raged for a fifth day in the capital, Monrovia, Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the rebels took control of one of three strategic bridges which leads from the rebel-controlled port district into the city's center.
However, the Associated Press quotes Liberian senior officer, Lieutenant General Roland Duo, as saying government troops pushed back the rebels from the bridge. The report said as of late Wednesday neither side held the key bridge.
Government troops already control the other two bridges.
Fighting continued despite the main rebel group's call for a cease-fire and a New York Times report that President Taylor is planning to step down within 10 days.
Leaders of the largest rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, say they ordered a cease-fire Sunday, but it will take time for the news to reach the fighters.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
