POLITICS-LIBERIA: Rebel Advances Create Panic Mass Displacements

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Feb 13 2002 (IPS) - As fighting draws closer to the Liberia’s capital Monrovia, there has been total panic among the civilian population, with thousands moving away from the scenes of battle.

The latest theatre of battle is the Clay Junction, which is situated 35 kilometres from Monrovia and reports say the strategic area has charged hands at least twice, in recent days.

“Our (government) forces are now firmly in control of Clay and we are making sure that we protect the lives of the Liberian people,” said Information Minister Reginald Gooderidje.

Rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD) say their objective is to enter Monrovia and topple the government of Charles Taylor, himself a former rebel leader who was elected President in 1997.

The LURD rebels launched their insurgency about two years ago from across the borders with neighbouring Guinea and initially concentrated their military activities in the northern county of Lofa.

Gradually, the rebels covered grounds claiming defections from Taylor’s forces. Fighting has moved into Gbapolu County in the west – closing in on Monrovia, the seat of government.

Defence Minister Daniel Chea has admitted the government losing territory to the rebels. As pressure mounts on his beleaguered administration, Taylor has imposed a state of public emergency, which gives the president sweeping powers to prosecute the war and arrest perceived dissidents.

Perhaps, even more difficult for Taylor’s regime is a range of sanctions slammed on it last year by the UN Security Council. These include an arms embargo, a travel ban on all senior members of the government, plus a ban on the export and sale of Liberian timber, a major revenue-generation sector.

The United Nations accuses the Taylor regime of backing rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone as well as supplying the guerrilla outfit – the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) – with weapons in exchange for so-called “blood diamonds”, used to fuel that West African State’s civil war.

Back at home, the Taylor administration has had a very bad human rights record. His Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) openly terrorises civilians and political opponents, thus creating what looks like a reign of terror.

Commented Liberian exiled political scientist Joe Riley, “we clearly have there a monster who does not respect the rule of law and fundamental freedoms; Taylor must go”.

Thousands of civilians have been displaced from their homes as the war spreads across the country and reports also say scores of Sierra Leonean refugees have been forced to flee their displaced camps.

Humanitarian agencies now fear a looming crisis ahead of the multitudes of displaced persons and refugees.

With election barley three months away in Sierra Leone, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is working on modalities to repatriate the Sierra Leonean refugees in Liberia to participate in the voting exercise. Many had already complained of harassment by security personnel and rebel forces as the war in Liberia escalates.

Taylor’s Defence minister admitted last week that the arms embargo is not helping the government’s war effort. With the emergency law now in force, the government’s security forces have sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspected dissidents. Since the start of the week, hundreds of suspected LURD rebels have been rounded up and reports speak of summary execution by Taylor’s ATV force.

Taylor has said that he would never flee Monrovia even in the face of rebel advance. “The LURD terrorists cannot force me to abandon my people. We will stay here and fight them back,” he said.

And now, with pressure mounting on the regime in Monrovia, the government has embarked on recruitment of young men and women, including children, something reminiscent of the previous civil war years in the 90s.

Human Rights and child protection agencies have vehemently condemned the government’s conduct of the war and called for more protection of civilians, especially children and women.

On Monday, the UN Security Council expressed concern about the escalation of fighting in Liberia but is yet to take a major position on the issue.

In Sierra Leone where the United Nations has the world’s largest peacekeeping mission – some 17,000 troops – the Secretary General’s special Envoy Oluyemi Aseniji has warned that escalation in fighting in Liberia would have adverse effects on its neighbour, both in terms of refugee inflow and pressure on the security situation.

The authorities in Sierra Leone have massively deployed troops on their border with Liberia to forestall the spillover of the conflict from there. It was, in fact, a similar situation that triggered the war in Sierra Leone back in 1991, barely two years after the war broke out in Liberia.