Rebels in Liberia Detain 14 Foreigners

Liberian rebels today seized 14 to 15 foreigners, including one American, from a hotel in downtown Monrovia, the State Department said.

Spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said the hostages were taken to a camp outside the capital city by forces loyal to Prince Johnson, who heads one of two factions fighting the government of President Samuel K. Doe.

There was no indication that any of the hostages had been harmed.

The hostages were taken from the African Hotel in Monrovia and moved to Johnson’s headquarters in the town of Caldwell, Tutwiler said, adding that she had no information on the nationalities of the non-American hostages.

Johnson had threatened Saturday to arrest all foreigners in Monrovia in the hope of provoking international intervention in the nation’s civil war.

About 20 more people were evacuated from Monrovia today, including six U.S. government employees, Tutwiler said. The rest were foreign nationals living in Liberia.

U.S. Marines operating from naval vessels off shore evacuated 74 people over the weekend.

More than 200 Marines are dug in at the U.S. Embassy to defend the “skeleton-size” diplomatic staff remaining there and to ferry those people who want to escape the West African nation’s civil strife, officials said.

Of the 62 U.S. citizens evacuated in the weekend helicopter rescue mission that began Sunday, 35 have been flown to neighboring Sierra Leone and “on to London where travel arrangements are being made” for them to return to the United States, the Pentagon said in a statement today.