Liberians Flee Army Search of Homes; Peace Talks Resume
Hundreds of Liberians fled in panic Thursday after soldiers searched houses in this port city and fired into an embassy.
The latest disturbances came as peace talks resumed in neighboring Sierra Leone between delegations representing the Liberian rebels and the embattled government of President Samuel K. Doe.
Troops also fired into the Nigerian Embassy early Thursday morning, where 150 Nigerians had sought refuge from the six-month-old civil war. Two bullets grazed one guard’s face.
More than 6,000 Liberians and foreigners have sought refuge in churches and embassy compounds in the rebel-besieged capital of 400,000 inhabitants.
Troops made house-to-house searches in Monrovia’s port area, which rebels have attacked twice within the last week.
Monrovians, their nerves shattered by the two-week siege and nightly shooting and looting by Doe’s unruly army, ran toward the city center seeking sanctuary.
Diplomats in Monrovia and Liberians behind rebel lines have reported feuding between mainstream rebel leader Charles Taylor and a splinter group of 500 to 700 men led by one of his former commanders, Prince Johnson.
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