U.S. Begins Evacuating Foreigners From Liberia

The U.S. government Tuesday started evacuating Americans and other foreigners from civil-war-racked Liberia as renewed factional fighting raged for a fourth day.

Officials in Monrovia, the capital of the West African country, said the first 26 evacuees--reportedly all Americans--reached neighboring Sierra Leone late Tuesday aboard an MH-53 helicopter. Another helicopter was ready to take out another load of civilians.

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said two C-5 transport planes, capable of carrying as many as 250 passengers each, were in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, ready to be sent to Monrovia if necessary.

A U.S. military official in Freetown told reporters that evacuees will probably be flown home via Dakar, the capital of nearby Senegal.

State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said the Clinton administration intends to give all Americans in Liberia an opportunity to leave if they wish to do so, although none will be pressured to depart. Other foreign nationals will be offered help in getting out if there is space available, he said.

Davies said 470 Americans, many of them embassy staff members, their spouses and missionaries, are known to be in Liberia, most of them in Monrovia. Of those, 110 have taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy compound along with about 210 foreign nationals, including citizens of Lebanon, Egypt, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Australia, Sweden, the Philippines, Britain, Germany, Canada and Russia.

In addition to the 470 Americans, Davies said, several hundred Liberian citizens hold American passports. He said they also will be offered help in leaving if they wish to go.

In addition to the foreigners in the embassy compound, Davies said, between 10,000 and 15,000 Liberian civilians are holed up in an embassy-owned residential complex. U.S. officials gave no indication that any of them would be allowed to join the evacuation.

Bacon said a military assessment team and 18 Navy SEAL commandos arrived in Monrovia on Tuesday as part of the evacuation preparations.

A senior State Department official said the evacuation got off to a slow start to give the Pentagon time to get military security personnel into place. Even though the first evacuees were already out of the country, the State Department declined to formally announce the operation. That announcement is expected today.

Life in Liberia has become increasingly dangerous during six years of factional war, fought mostly along ethnic lines, in which more than 150,000 people have been killed and at least half the country’s 3 million residents have been left homeless. But State Department and Pentagon officials said there is no indication that the fighters are targeting foreigners.

Speaking at a White House bill-signing ceremony, President Clinton said: “We have tried to put in place the backup measures which would allow us to protect the Americans as quickly as possible should that become necessary.”

News agencies reported from Monrovia that the latest round of fighting and looting began Saturday between supporters of fugitive warlord Roosevelt Johnson and backers of the ruling Council of State, which fired Johnson from his post as rural development minister and ordered his arrest for murder after a clash with rival militias.

Late Tuesday, however, Reuters news service reported that Liberia’s factions agreed to a cease-fire. Under the reported deal, each side would cease hostilities and Johnson would turn himself in. There was no word on whether fighting had stopped.

After word of the cease-fire agreement, U.S. officials in Washington said the planned evacuation will be reconsidered in the morning, depending on whether the cease-fire holds.

While welcoming the announced cease-fire, officials said that truces have often been extremely short-lived in the Liberian war.

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In Harm’s Way

Americans in Liberia are being airlifted to Sierra Leone and Senegal.

LIBERIA FACT SHEET

Americans trapped in Liberia were being flown to Freetown to avoid rebel-government bloodshed.

The conflict: Involves seven rebel factions and has killed more than 150,000 people and left at least half the country’s 2.3 million residents homeless in six years of war. The worst fighting in Monrovia in three years erupted Saturday.

Population: 3 million

Official language: English

Industries: Food processing, mining

History: Republic founded by slaves from the United States in 1847.