Rebel forces continued to pound the Liberian capital Monrovia with mortar fire on Monday as fierce street fighting continued in the city centre and rebel reinforcements moved to cut off roads to the interior. The government of President Charles Taylor, who has promised to step down as soon as West African peacekeeping forces arrive in the country, swore to battle on. But many government fighters took advantage of the chaos on Monday to break into closed shops in the city centre in a fresh wave of looting.
| Gotta provide for the future, which is now the immediate future... |
Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds have been wounded since the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement launched its third attack on Monrovia in less than two months on July 17. The Italian Missionary Service News Agency reported that at least 20 displaced people were killed on Saturday when a shell landed in the Freemasons hall in the city centre, where they had gathered to take shelter. And a Liberian employee of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres was killed on Sunday when a mortar hit his home. Relief workers in the beleaguered city of one million people said three civilians died on Monday when several mortar shells landed near the US embassy in the Mamba Point diplomatic district. "Shooting and shelling close to our hospitals is making it nearly impossible for us to treat our patients safely," Alain Kassa, MSF head of mission in Monrovia said. "Yesterday, a bullet landed in the middle of our hospital's pediatric ward even as war wounded civilians continued to arrive. Today, we fear the fighting in the streets is so intense that the wounded cannot be transported to the hospital for treatment," he said, adding that MSF medical staff were looking after more than 80 wounded civilians.
| This part of it will let up once Chuck's gone — I still think tomorrow. It'll be followed by looting and reprisals, but at least the open warfare part will be over, for good if Chuck's a deader. |
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