Liberia President Turns Down U.S. Offer of Aid to Flee Rebels

Beleaguered Liberian leader Samuel K. Doe met the U.S. ambassador in Monrovia on Wednesday, but Washington said he turned down an offer of help in escaping the rebels who have cut off his capital.

Government soldiers and witnesses in Monrovia, meanwhile, said rebels loyal to former Doe associate Charles Taylor were advancing in the capital’s eastern suburbs, which echoed with the sounds of artillery and gunfire.

Firing could also be heard on the western outskirts of the city.

President Doe, who seized power at the age of 28 in a bloody military coup in 1980, talked for about one hour with U.S. Ambassador Peter De Vos.

Officials in Monrovia declined to give details of the talks.

The State Department said later that Doe turned down help to leave the country, but spokeswoman Greta Morris said the offer remains open.

The United States, Liberia’s main ally, has a naval task force with 2,100 marines and four ships off the coast of this West African nation founded by freed American slaves in 1847.

Political sources in Monrovia said this week that Doe, closeted in his fortress-like mansion in the capital, has agreed in principle to resign as long as the rebels assured his safety and that of his minority Krahn tribe.

The six-month-old civil war has taken on aspects of a tribal feud.

Witnesses said that at least 17 bodies, some of them shot, had been found Wednesday morning at different locations in the capital of half a million people.

The witnesses spoke of government soldiers shooting and looting during an overnight curfew in the city.

Troops ransacked several homes belonging to members of the Gio and Mano tribes, they said. Many rebels belong to those tribes.

Most Cabinet ministers and senior administration officials have already fled the country.

Doe’s right-hand man, Minister for Presidential Affairs Elvin Jones, flew to neighboring Ivory Coast on Wednesday morning as rebels firing rifles and artillery attacked the capital for the third successive day.

Fighting erupted in the eastern suburb of Congo Town with rebels moving toward the transmitter of the main state radio, which was off the air. Fighting raged around the nearby 72nd Army reconnaissance base.