Calm returns to Liberia
April 21, 1996
Web posted at: 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT)MONROVIA, Liberia (CNN) -- With peacekeepers once again patrolling Monrovia, Liberians in need of food and water ventured outside Sunday onto streets strewn with wreckage from two weeks of urban fighting and looting.
A day after fanning out in the capital, West African peacekeepers said Sunday they had secured the release of another 127 hostages from an army barracks, where thousands of civilians from several countries had been trapped by fighting that killed more than 100 people. Several more died from disease.
Hostages to be freed
A total of 203 people have now been freed from the barracks, where fighters loyal to militia leader Roosevelt Johnson were under siege from the forces of Charles Taylor and Alhaji Kromah, both members of a temporary ruling council.
Former hostages -- many of them Lebanese -- told reporters they had suffered from hunger and thirst, but they had not been mistreated. The factional fighting began when Johnson's men resisted attempts to arrest him on murder charges.
Relative calm took hold Friday night when Johnson agreed to a truce. Under the cease-fire deal, Taylor and Kromah are to end the siege on the military barracks, while Johnson's fighters are to release all foreign and Liberian hostages.
Rival troops leave
The deal also stipulates that the rival militias withdraw from the streets of Monrovia to allow the deployment of peacekeepers.
Taylor and Kromah ordered their troops Saturday to withdraw from the city, allowing the peacekeeping force known as ECOMOG to take up positions.
Johnson's faction said Sunday it would withdraw to its base in the town of Tubmanburg, northwest of the capital, and allow a summit of West African leaders in Accra, Ghana, next month to decide the future of the interim government.
Peacekeepers in control
ECOMOG was sent to Liberia by the Economic Community of West African States in 1990 when civil war broke out.
The Nigerian-led force of about 10,000 is responsible for disarming 60,000 guerrillas under an accord signed last August to end fighting that has killed more than 150,000 people.
On occasion, however, ECOMOG has been sucked into factional fighting. It blames continuing violence in Liberia on failed promises of reinforcements and Western aid to enable it to disarm the guerrillas.
On Saturday, the United States promised an additional $30 million in equipment, training and other support to ECOMOG if it demonstrates "a renewed capacity to play a neutral and effective role."
The U.S. has an amphibious marine group waiting off Monrovia's coast to help protect the American embassy and carry out evacuations by sea if necessary.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Cease-fire in effect in Monrovia - April 20
- Liberian rebel leader weighs asylum offer - April 17
- Civilians trapped in new Liberian assault - April 16
- Gunfire and looting continue in Liberian capital - April 15
- Writer tells of narrow escape from rebels - April 11
- U.S. sends more troops to West Africa - April 10
- Americans evacuated from war-torn Liberia - April 9
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