Liberian Rebels Attack Airfield in Capital; Doe Refuses to Yield

Liberian rebels closing in on the final stronghold of President Samuel K. Doe waded across a swamp Wednesday to attack Monrovia’s Spriggs-Payne airfield, the capital’s last transportation link with the outside world.

Unlike Robertsfield International Airport, which was captured by rebels several weeks ago, Spriggs-Payne can take only small planes but was in use until Tuesday.

Diplomats reported heavy fighting in the eastern part of the city, where troops loyal to rebel leader Charles Taylor have resumed their offensive.

Insurgents commanded by another rebel leader, Prince Johnson, have taken all of the city’s northern Bushrod Island, where they control the port and oil depots.

With attacks from the east and north, the city appeared to be caught in a vise that could clamp shut today, Liberia’s independence day.

Acting Information Minister Paul Allen Wie, at an impromptu news conference held as gunfire echoed all around, said Doe was as defiant as ever and has no intention of resigning.

“The president thinks it is worth dying for his country,” Wie said.

Referring to a call to resign from black U.S. members of Congress, Doe said: “I cannot heed the advice . . . to quit the leadership of Liberia because it would introduce a dangerous precedent of outrageous rebellion and instability into the West African region.”

Doe met U.S. Ambassador Peter de Vos on Tuesday and assured him that Liberian government threats against Washington in the past few days would not lead to an outright break in relations.

But the government repeated its accusation that the United States is aiding the rebels.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Doe still has not requested U.S. aid in leaving Liberia.

Pope John Paul II, meanwhile, appealed for an end to the civil war, and a Roman Catholic newspaper reported that the pontiff’s scheduled trip to West Africa in January might be postponed because of the conflict.

The Catholic daily newspaper Avvenire reported that the trip might be put off at least until September, 1991. A Vatican spokesman said he could not comment on the report because the situation in Liberia was still changing.