POLITICS: Peacekeepers Secure Liberian Town, Warn All Fighters to Leave

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Sep 10 2003 (IPS) - West African peacekeepers from Guinea Bissau Wednesday said they were now in full control of the Liberian city of Kakata after days of sporadic battles between government forces and the main rebel group, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD).

"We had to get the rebels out of Kakata in order to ensure security for the civilians who have been caught in days of crossfire," a spokesperson for the peacekeepers said Wednesday.

The 600-strong troops from Guinea Bissau literally forced the rebels out of Kakata, 50 kilometres north-east of the Liberian capital Monrovia, while warning their factional rivals, the government troops and back-up militia, to also leave the town.

"The rebels were hauled in trucks and driven out of town to one of their nearby strongholds on Tuesday," said a local aid worker in the town. "This comes as a relief to the traumatised civilian population here."

Kakata, a strategic town, has important technical institutions. For days running, the LURD rebels had been locked in running battles with government troops for control of the city.

"This is the first show of strength by the peacekeepers," says political commentator Harry Varney, a Liberian refugee in neighbouring Sierra Leone. "They have to force their way into the towns and cities in the countryside in order to inject fear in the brutal rebels."

The LURD rebels and another smaller warring faction, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) recently agreed to observe a ceasefire, following the departure of former President Charles Taylor, but the peace deal is still fragile, with sporadic clashes between the belligerents.

The West African grouping ECOWAS has pledged to deploy some 3,500 troops to separate the factions in Liberia, but as yet, only Ghana, Guinea Bissau and Nigeria have contributed troops to the peacekeeping mission. Senegal, Mali and Benin have pledged to contribute troops, but the process seems painfully slow.

In October, a UN mission is expected to take over peacekeeping duties in Liberia, transforming the West African troops on the ground into blue helmets. The United Nations is considering sending 15,000 peacekeepers to Liberia, which would make it the largest peacekeeping operation in the world.

Expectations that the United States would contribute troops have not materialised. The Americans have only sent in a token force to back up the African peacekeepers with logistics. This has disappointed many Liberians who see the United States as traditional and historic ally.

So far, relief aid has only been trickling in the provincial regions because of looming insecurity. There is relative calm in the capital Monrovia where the bulk of Nigerian peacekeepers are deployed.

War broke out in Liberia four years ago, as the then President Taylor’s rule of that country became increasingly dictatorial and unpopular.

The rebels, who took up arms to topple Taylor, now have a difficult task to explain why they are still locked in hostilities, even with Taylor gone into exile in Nigeria.

An interim government that would take the country into elections will assume office in October and embark on the disarmament of combatants, reconciliation of the people and conducting elections. But the situation still seems cloudy, as gunmen control the streets, unsure of their future and roaming about without regular salaries.

"In Liberia today, the gun rules," remarks Maina Howard, a Liberian businesswoman in the central city of Gbarnga, now based in Monrovia. "My hope is that peace would hold this time because we’ve gone through years of war and destruction."

Liberia, with a population of about 3.5 million, experienced its first civil war from Dec. 1989 to 1997, which saw the election of ex-president Taylor, a former warlord, into office. At least 150,000 people were believed to have been killed, with nearly a million forced into neighbouring countries as refugees.