Fighting Near Liberian Capital
Panic gripped Liberia's capital Monrovia on Monday as the sound of approaching gunfire sparked fears that fighting between rebels and President Charles Taylor's forces was drawing near. Monrovia residents took their children home from schools and trucks on the road were filled with people trying to flee the city center and get back to the suburbs.
"I saw people running so I had to leave as well," said a woman with two children. "You cannot see people running and begin to ask questions, you have to also leave as well."
The boom of heavy weapons could be heard from the city center and residents said they thought the noise was coming from Artington, 16 miles from the capital, where Taylor has a private residence. Defense Minister Daniel Chea confirmed Taylor's hometown had come under assault.
The thunder of artillery and mortar on the hilltop town rolled across nearby Monrovia, causing pandemonium. Merchants locked stores to run home, and frantic parents left homes and offices to search for their children.
"What is this, again? Where can we go, again?" cried one woman in a Monrovia market, abandoning her market stall to hide with thousands of others.
The rebels are believed to be the losing side in Liberia's ruinous 1989-96 civil war, which ended with Taylor, the militia leader who launched the war, taking power in 1997 elections.
The rebels, fighters in a shadowy movement calling itself Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, six days ago launched their boldest and most concerted attacks.
International aid workers said it was unclear Monday whether rebels or the government controlled the town of Gbargna, 110 miles outside of Monrovia.
Rebels over the weekend subsequently attacked Klay, 25 miles to the north of the capital. Klay had come under attack in February, and until Monday marked the nearest approach of the rebels.
Military vehicles patrolled Monrovia's deserted roads carrying blue-jean clad government fighters and bristling with rocket launchers.
Authorities struggled to ease tension. A police car rolled through the main streets, blaring through a loudspeaker "All is calm! All is calm!"
Chea, the defense minister, at one point himself ran out on the streets to order troops to turn off the flashing lights on their vehicles, saying it was adding to the panic.
Liberia, founded by freed U.S. slaves in the 19th century, remains blighted by the 1990s civil war, with little running water, electricity of other services for the people.
Taylor's government remains under longstanding U.N. sanctions, including an arms embargo, for what the United Nations says is his ongoing support for rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone and elsewhere.