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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
LIBERIA: Government, rebels trade accusations over Wednesday shootout
MONROVIA, 3 October 2003 (IRIN) - Liberia's Interim President Moses Blah and the chairman of the main rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) Sekou Damate Conneh, have traded accusations over Wednesday's shootout in the capital, Monrovia in which nine people died.
The shootout in the eastern outskirts of Monrovia led to widespread looting by both government troops and rebels until the next morning. Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the city throughout Wednesday night.
Blah said Conneh drove into Monrovia with armed men "to stage a coup against my government".
The LURD on the other hand said government forces had attempted to assassinate Conneh "in a calculated ambush".
Blah blamed UN peacekeepers for the incident. "We hold the blame on the peacekeepers because they disarmed my security officers, the police, Special Security Service," Blah told a hastily arranged news conference in Monrovia on Thursday.
"They knew that LURD forces were coming to my house well armed, but they disarmed all of my forces. I could have replied fire and none of them would have stood up to it, but for the sake of peace I decided not to," the interim president said.
He added that it was the peacekeepers that suggested he meet the rebels at his residence.
On Wednesday, Edwin Snow, the government official who had brokered the talks had told IRIN. "I regret the incident but we will continue the talks between LURD and government."
General Daniel Opande, the UN force commander in Liberia however said: "It is easier to apportion blame especially in such a situation. If you are the man on the ground, it is not easy to deal with all those parties and block all those loopholes."
The incident happened on the day the UN mission to Liberia (UNMIL) took over peacekeeping duties in the country from a much smaller West African force (ECOMIL) of 3,500 men from Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.
Shooting broke out when Conneh drove into the city in a 35-vehicle convoy to meet Blah. Angry crowd blocked the convoy, which included a car carrying the commander of the West African peacekeepers, General Festus Okonkwo.
LURD fighters opened fire to clear the road, but government forces retaliated before peacekeepers calmed down the situation. Conneh drove back to his base in Tubmanburg, 90 km West of Monrovia, without meeting Blah.
Brigadier General Festus Okonkwo told reporters on Wednesday that the LURD could have brought weapons into the city because some of their vehicles in the convoy refused to stop to be searched at Po-River checkpoint.
The Po-River checkpoint, 17 west of Monrovia is the demarcation line between the peacekeepers and LURD rebels. Rebels crossing into Monrovia are required to deposit their arms at the checkpoint
Eyewitnesses told IRIN government loyalists sparked the shootout by throwing rocks at Conneh's motorcade. The situation escalated when government troops attempted to mutilate the body of a LURD fighter after gunning him down.
A LURD senior advisor told IRIN on Friday the shootout was an "assassination attempt and a calculated ambush by Taylor's remnants forces" on the life of the LURD chairman.
"This has taught us a lesson not meet with any of Taylor's protégées in Monrovia, because they are still scheming to fight us and settle old scores," he said.
Blah was vice president under former Liberian president Charles Taylor. He became interim president when Taylor was forced by international pressure to resign and go into exile in Nigeria on 11 August.
Blah is expected to hand over on 14 October to a broad-based transitional government, in accordance with an 18 August Peace Agreement signed in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, by all Liberian warring parties. The LURD is expected to be part of that government.
Conneh returned from exile in Guinea on 23 September, saying the LURD had stopped fighting in accordance with the Accra accord. He told reporters he would travel to Monrovia to meet Blah ahead of the installation of the transition government.
After Wednesday's incident, Conneh told reporters his rebel group would meet to review the situation before 14 October. Diplomats in Monrovia said the incident could be a setback to LURD's participation in the new government.
Blah however extended an olive branch to the rebels and announced an investigation: "We are open to peace and prepared to receive our brothers [LURD] again," he told reporters.
On Tuesday, General Opande warned Liberian warring groups to strictly stick by the Accra agreement." The parties to the agreement have to come together and ensure that they live by what they signed in Ghana. They must ensure that the peace accord is followed to the letter," he said.
Liberia's two rebel groups, LURD and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) signed the agreement after lengthy talks along with the government, Liberian political parties and civil society groups. It demanded an immediate ceasefire. However several clashes have since occurred between LURD, MODEL and government fighters, displacing thousands of civilians.
UNMIL's mandate is to monitor the ceasefire and assist in the disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, and repatriation of all armed parties, including child soldiers. It will also help in the voluntary return of hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons following 14 years brutal warfare, ahead of elections in 2005.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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