July 26, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1424

WASHINGTON, July 25: US President George Bush on Friday ordered military ships to the Liberian coast to back the eventual deployment of West African peacekeepers, the White House said in a statement.

“The president has directed the secretary of defence to position appropriate military capabilities off the coast of Liberia in order to support the deployment of an ECOWAS force once it is generated,” the statement said.

In Liberia itself, the rebel group that has been battling forces loyal to President Charles Taylor in the capital for a week, announced an immediate ceasefire on Friday, the third time they have done so since June 17.

Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) said in a statement frontline commanders had been instructed to cease fire, but ordered to mount “a potent defensive posture in defending its present forward positions”.

The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, is expected to decide on Monday on sending a west African peacekeeping force to Liberia, where hundreds of civilians have died in murderous clashes between rebel and government forces.

“The immediate task of the ECOWAS force is to reinforce a ceasefire and begin to create conditions where humanitarian assistance can be provided to the Liberian people,” the White House statement said.

“The US role will be limited in time and scope as multinational forces under the United Nations assume the responsibility for peacekeeping and as the United Nations arranges a political transition in Liberia.”

“As the United States has said before, Charles Taylor must leave,” it added.

Liberian President Charles Taylor was indicted in June by the UN Special Court in Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity and war crimes during the decade-long civil war in Liberia’s northwestern neighbour, in which some 250,000 people lost their lives.

Taylor is also under UN sanctions, including an arms embargo, for his perceived role in that war and alleged links to the trade in so-called “blood diamonds” mined by the Sierra Leonean rebels.

The former warlord faces a rebel advance in his own country’s devastating four-year war, with the rebels now controlling four-fifths of the country.

CEASEFIRE ANNOUNCEMENT: The ceasefire announcement by the LURD rebel group came after a day of heavy fighting when mortar bombs rained down on the city centre, which is held by President Taylor’s forces, killing at least 14 and wounding scores more.

The rebel forces, which launched a revolt to oust Taylor in 2000, have attacked Monrovia three times since the beginning of June but this assault has been the most sustained and brutal.

A hundred civilians were killed on Monday when dozens of mortars smashed into the city centre as the rebels battled to cross two key bridges into the heart of the coastal capital.

“This unilateral ceasefire is declared with due respect to the international community and humanitarian concern,” the statement said, adding that LURD was prepared to receive peacekeepers and fully cooperate with them.

US SOLDIERS’ THREAT: US soldiers guarding their embassy in Liberia’s capital on Friday distributed leaflets threatening to use deadly force against anybody who approached the mission in a hostile manner.

Troops guarding the US embassy, fenced in by razor wire since a series of mortar attacks on the capital, were “authorized to use deadly force, if necessary, to carry out their mission”, the leaflet said.

“To avoid an incident, keep away from the embassy compound. When in the vicinity of the embassy, make no sudden movements or threatening gestures,” it said before repeating the threat to use “deadly force,” if required.

The leaflets bore an image of a gun-wielding US soldier against a Stars and Stripes background.

Troops put up razor wire outside the embassy gates after 15 mortar shells rained down on the Mamba Point diplomatic quarter, where the US mission is located, killing 11 people and wounding 40, according to humanitarian sources.

One mortar hit the embassy earlier this week, without causing any injuries.

Despite Friday’s warning, thousands of displaced people filled the streets near the embassy but were held back by roadblocks set up by US soldiers either side of the main gate.—AFP