Marines Diverted to Liberia

A Navy ship carrying Marines home from Iraq has been diverted to West Africa to help evacuate civilians from war-torn Liberia. But despite international pressure to intervene militarily, the Pentagon has no plans yet to deploy the Marines or other U.S. troops standing by in the region, a spokesman said Monday.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld redirected the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge last week to stand by in waters off West Africa at the request of the U.S. ambassador to Liberia, who feared that the capital, Monrovia, might fall under siege by rebels trying to topple Liberian President Charles Taylor.

A U.N. special tribunal’s recent war crimes indictment against Taylor has energized the three-year-long battle by two rebel groups to oust him. On Thursday, more than 500 foreigners were evacuated to a French warship as the rebels neared the edge of the city.

The Kearsarge is carrying about 1,200 sailors, 1,800 Marines and helicopters that could help airlift U.S. Embassy staff and other civilians out of the capital. About 500 U.S. Special Forces troops stationed in other countries in the region are also prepared to assist in what is now being called Operation Shining Express, a Pentagon official said Monday.

The State Department will determine whether an evacuation is necessary, and whether further U.S. involvement is needed to restore order to the country. Mediators trying to broker a cease-fire between Taylor’s government forces and rebels reported progress Monday and said a pact may be signed as early as today.

The U.S. has shunned military involvement in Africa since its intervention in Somalia in the early 1990s, when 18 Army Rangers were killed in one day.

But the International Crisis Group, an independent conflict-prevention organization, has been leading the call for the U.S. to reengage in Africa, starting with Liberia, founded by freed American slaves in 1847. Washington should support Taylor’s arrest and lead a multinational force to see the country through to a new, stable government, a recent report urged.

“The U.S. really needs to step up to the plate in Liberia,” said Nancy Soderberg, ICG’s vice president and a former National Security Council official in the Clinton administration. “It resembles Rwanda more than Somalia. The place is about to blow -- can they put troops on the ground to avert catastrophe? The tea leaves in Washington say that they are seriously considering it.”

Soderberg said the administration was discussing a proposal to have the 500 U.S. Special Forces troops in the region join 2,000 Nigerian peacekeepers, with the U.S. providing logistical and financial support for the operation.

Although intervention has strong advocates within the administration, U.S. military preparations to aid an evacuation do not necessarily mean that the troops will step in, and the White House is still considering the options, a senior U.S. official said Monday.

Military support could also come by expanding the U.N. peacekeeping force in neighboring Sierra Leone, a move that would require Security Council approval. Or the troops on the Kearsarge could find their tour of duty, which began on short notice in January, extended.

“There could be an evacuation. They’re still talking about it,” said Richard Grenell, spokesman at the U.S. mission to the United Nations. “But there are no instructions yet.”

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Staff writer John Hendren in Washington contributed to this report.