WORLD : Liberia Task Force Ready to Sail
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FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — A West African task force to halt the fighting in Liberia boarded warships today, and diplomats said the hundreds of soldiers were ready to sail for the besieged capital of Monrovia.
Soldiers, tanks and other weapons boarded the ships after rebel leader Charles Taylor refused to go to a meeting he had earlier agreed to attend to discuss a cease-fire with Gambian leader Sir Dawda Jawara. Jawara is current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States.
The six-nation army was expected to leave Wednesday or Thursday from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia, according to African and Western diplomats.
Taylor has threatened to attack any foreign troops that intervene in Liberia’s bloody eight-month-old war.
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