Liberia Rebels Push Ahead

Rebels pushed toward the heart of Liberia’s embattled capital Sunday, trading heavy artillery fire with government troops and sending throngs of civilians into the streets seeking shelter.

International relief groups said nearly 200 people were injured in the cross-fire during two days of intense fighting. Widespread looting was reported across the capital, and tens of thousands of Liberians bearing buckets full of their possessions sought haven in churches, public buildings and housing complexes near the U.S. Embassy compound.

Rebel leaders continued to insist that their aim was not to take Monrovia, but rather to increase pressure on Liberian President Charles Taylor to vacate the presidency and leave the country. Taylor, who has accepted an offer of asylum in nearby Nigeria, is refusing to leave until peacekeepers arrive, and he has vowed to fight “to the last man.”

The weekend’s onslaught and continued chaos, however, may hinder the speedy arrival of international peacekeepers whose presence could help end 14 years of war in this West African nation, settled by freed American slaves.

The White House is still considering whether to send U.S. troops to Liberia to support African countries that have already pledged to send peacekeepers.

Many Liberians have expressed frustration that American forces have yet to be deployed.

“We need America’s help because of our histories. If they forget us, we will fall like a tree without roots,” said Massa Miller, a 40-year-old mother of five who fled her home in a Monrovia suburb.

On Saturday, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia John W. Blaney urged the rebels not to advance farther into Monrovia and called on all warring parties to respect a cease-fire called June 17 to end fighting that has claimed hundreds of lives.

On Sunday, the fighting intensified, particularly around bridges leading from the rebel-controlled port into downtown Monrovia. At one bridge near the central market, government soldiers took time out to smoke marijuana and loot the deserted stalls. Other soldiers raced through the city center in pickups as gunfire whizzed by. Automatic rifle fire ricocheted off buildings.

Civilians ran through the capital’s streets, bearing buckets, blankets and bags full of their possessions, and crouching to avoid being struck by gunfire. Thousands sought shelter at the Graystone residential compound near the U.S. Embassy, despite shelling near its gates. Slowly they were allowed in after being searched for weapons. Inside the embassy itself, several international journalists took refuge on the advice of embassy officials.

A spokeswoman for U.S. European Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Africa and Europe, said the American military has positioned aircraft in Sierra Leone and Senegal to evacuate personnel from Liberia if necessary. But she stressed that so far, U.S. officials in the area see no need to do so.

Many citizens have remained at home unable to move because of intense fighting.

“My entire neighborhood decided it would be better to stay rather than to take the risk of a stray bullet,” said Sam Nagbe, 40, who spoke by cell phone as he, his wife and three children hunkered down in their house a few miles out of town. “There is firing and explosions. People are scared.”

At a Doctors Without Borders compound in the capital, patients filled every room. Outdoor tents were erected to house the overflow -- then dismantled when shells landed too close.

Cribs filled with sick and injured children lined one small room on the second floor. In one, 6-year-old Musu Dette wailed for her mother. The family was wounded in a rocket attack, and Musu’s right arm was amputated. Four bodies lay in a makeshift morgue, at least one a male victim of the overnight fighting. The body of another man, who died overnight from cholera, was brought out on a stretcher and placed in a white body bag. Workers sprayed the stretcher with disinfectant in preparation for the next patient.

John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia received more than 60 wounded, according to wire reports. An International Committee of the Red Cross trauma unit in Monrovia said it had treated 100 seriously wounded patients, mostly civilians. The British aid group Merlin treated 30 more civilians.

On Saturday, Beavor Tornor pleaded with his father to get him moved from the ward where he lay among several government fighters nursing gunshot wounds.

Tornor, a civilian, was injured in an earlier bout of fighting in June. He said he feared that if rebels managed to overrun the hospital he might be accused of being a Taylor loyalist and killed.

“I know these people; they don’t pick and choose,” said the 26-year-old student, writhing from the pain of shrapnel lodged in his left thigh and arm.

French photographer Patrick Robert, on assignment for Time magazine, was shot and wounded during Saturday’s fighting. He was reported to be in stable condition Sunday.

Dominique Liengme, head of the Red Cross delegation in Liberia, said the escalation in fighting had severely curtailed the agency’s ability to bring help to sick and wounded people trapped in the city.

“It has been quite difficult, because there has been a lot of street gunfire,” Liengme said. “In the city, we have very limited access due to the insecurity.”

Residents trapped in their homes reported that some of the gun battles were actually between government troops fighting over spoils from their looting spree. Others believe that Taylor’s soldiers were staging some of the fighting and blaming the assault on the rebels.

Whatever the cause of the new bombardment, foreign aid agencies working in Monrovia warned that the escalation of fighting would compound a humanitarian disaster. Lack of food and water has plagued this war-ravaged city in recent months, as more than 100,000 have flocked to the capital seeking safety.

“The next problem will be how to dispose of dead bodies,” said Johnson Olufowote, national director for the international aid agency World Vision. “They will be mostly babies and children.”

Times staff writers Carolyn Cole in Monrovia and Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.