Haiti's Choice, and Father Aristide's

Sunday's election in Haiti was a triple triumph: for Haiti's determined voters, for the winning candidate, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and for the international effort to guarantee a free, fair vote. After a bloody fiasco in 1987, and an unconvincing army-run vote in 1988, Haiti has at last chosen a democratic successor to the Duvalier dictatorship. Father Aristide has won a mandate for radical change. But he has also acquired a duty to respect the constitutional procedures that assured his victory.

Outsiders have always found it easy to write off Haiti. The hemisphere's poorest republic, they said, could not afford the luxury of political choice. Besides, Haiti lacks any history of democratic government. And, they dolefully predicted, the armed thugs of the old regime would surely veto all attempts at serious change. Perhaps there was also an element of racism in the wide refusal to acknowledge that black Haiti could become part of Latin America's democratic trend.

Haitians never succumbed to such reasoning. They braved intimidation from the army and the remnants of the Duvaliers' secret police, the Tontons Macoute, to approve a democratic electoral code, and then defend it in the streets against military encroachments. Neither failed elections nor military coups extinguished their faith that they were as entitled to democracy as anyone else.

Americans can be proud of the role played by their Ambassador, Alvin Adams, since his arrival a year ago. By making plain that American economic support depended on progress toward elections, he helped keep the electoral process on track. Last month Father Aristide's radical rhetoric began to draw not only wide support from the poor but also threats from panicked sections of the elite that threatened to derail the election. Ambassador Adams held firm for democratic principle.

Democracy's cause remains insecure. Father Aristide's promises to sweep away social inequality and political violence will be impossible to fulfill at once. The violent men of the old regime will be around to thwart the new government's initiatives long after international election observers have departed.

Father Aristide will need to be tough. But he will also need to be patient, and to preach patience to his followers. His is a truly historic challenge. He can now become either the father of Haitian democracy or just one more of its many betrayers.

Source: New York Times

Ivory Coast's Ruling Party Wins a Huge Majority in Open Election

President Felix Houphouet-Boigny's party won an overwhelming majority in Parliament in multiparty elections that ended 30 years of unchallenged one-party rule, the Government said today. Opposition politicians accused the governing party of intimidation and fraud in the voting on Sunday.

The Interior Ministry said the governing Democratic Party won 163 seats in the 175-member Parliament while the Popular Front, the main opposition party, won 9 of the 10 seats captured by opponents of the Government. The remaining two seats went to governing party members who ran as independents.

Two opposition leaders who are university professors were elected to Parliament: Laurent Gbagbo of the Popular Front and Francis Wodie, head of the Ivoirian Workers' Party and dean of Abidjan University's law faculty.

Mr. Wodie, a former president of the human rights organization Amnesty International, defeated two candidates from the governing party and an ally of Mr. Gbagbo to win the seat from the affluent suburb of Cocody, where President Houphouet-Boigny voted. Mr. Wodie said in an interview, "It is difficult to believe these results are correct, that the opposition is in such a minority." He blamed a low voter turnout, which he estimated at 50 to 60 percent, and suggested that some Ivoirians had not bothered to vote because they believed that the balloting would be rigged.

About 4.4 million people registered to vote in the contest among 490 candidates from 19 parties. Results are not official until the Supreme Court ratifies them later this week. The Democratic Party had been expected to win, but not with such a vast majority. Its victory reinforced Mr. Houphouet-Boigny's re-election last month in the first contested presidential race in this West African nation's 30 years of independence, all under his rule.

The President's sole challenger, Mr. Gbagbo, has charged that the governing party also rigged that election, in which the octogenarian President won 81.67 percent of the vote.

Source: New York Times

FINANCIAL SERVICES BOARD ACT 97 OF 1990

The purpose of the Financial Services Board Act is to provide for the establishment of a board to supervise compliance with laws regulating financial institutions and the provision of financial services; and for matters connected therewith.

Functions of the Financial Services Board

(a) to supervise and enforce compliance with laws regulating financial institutions and the provision of financial services;
(b) to advise the Minister on matters concerning financial institutions and financial services, either of its own accord or at the request of the Minister; and
(c) to promote programmes and initiatives by financial institutions and bodies representing the financial services industry to inform and educate users and potential users of financial products and services.

The board shall be governed by so many members as the Minister may deem necessary and appoint, with due regard to the interests of the users of financial services and the suppliers of financial services, including financial intermediaries, and the public interest.

Levies

The board may impose by notice in the Gazette levies on financial institutions and may, subject to the provisions of this section, at any time in similar manner amend, substitute or withdraw any such notice.

Source: SABINET

Official Says Soviet Blast Affected 120,000

An explosion at a nuclear fuel processing plant in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan this month may have contaminated 120,000 people, a local environmental official said today. Rishat Adamov, chairman of eastern Kazakhstan's Regional Committee on Environmental Protection, said 60,000 people demonstrated on Thursday in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk to demand that the plant there be closed. ''It's a bomb in the center of the city,'' Mr. Adamov said in a telephone interview from Ust-Kamenogorsk, 2,000 miles east of Moscow, where the explosion on Sept. 12 released toxic beryllium oxide gas into the atmosphere.

Medical experts in Moscow said exposure to beryllium, a metal widely used in the nuclear and aerospace industries, could lead to lung problems resulting in breathing difficulties, coughing and spitting of blood. There might also be eye and skin problems. While they could be fatal in extreme cases, most symptoms should clear up in six months, said the experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ''There is no medicine to treat this effectively,'' one doctor added.

President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan called on the Soviet Government to provide compensation for health damage in the region.

Source: New York Times

Preventing Genocide in Liberia

Until the 1980's, Liberia's main divide was between indigenous people and the Americo-Liberians, descended from freed U.S. slaves. Mr. Doe's bloody coup ended the old elite's dominance. Power and patronage flowed instead to the Krahn. That favoritism, along with the regime's brutality and incompetence, sparked opposition from other ethnic groups, like the Gio and the Mano. One rebel leader, Prince Johnson, is from the Gio. His rival, Charles Taylor, is an Americo-Liberian.

The U.S. cannot be proud of its own early association with the Doe dictatorship. The Reagan Administration convinced itself that Mr. Doe could provide a strategic bulwark against Communist advance. It ignored abundant evidence of official misdeeds and popular discontent and made Liberia the largest per capita recipient of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa. Congress finally cut back American support after 1985. When Mr. Doe's enemies began closing in on him earlier this year, the Bush Administration rightly resisted his pleas for help.

Instead, a peacekeeping force was raised from the 16-member Economic Community of West African States. With 5,000 Liberian civilians dead and 400,000 refugees streaming over the borders, neighboring states feared chaos. Yet the force's arrival last month touched off reprisals against foreigners and fears of a wider war.

Those concerns remain valid. President Doe's murder has not ended Liberia's ordeal. The prospect of ethnic genocide compels preventive action. From Sri Lanka to the Balkans, political opportunists have exploited ethnic rivalries in the quest for short-term advantage. Too often, their efforts have drowned their countries in blood. For taking risks to prevent the worst, West Africa's peacekeepers deserve the world's appreciation, and support.

Source: New York Times

Police in South Africa Fire on Soweto Crowd

A total of 32 people died in fighting between black factions since Saturday, reports said. Hundreds have died since the violence in black townships near Johannesburg began less than one month ago.

Residents accused supporters of the conservative Zulu movement Inkatha of starting the nighttime attack with police help. They also said masked white men had taken part in the assault on the Tladi squatter camp in Soweto. The head of the South African Council of Churches, the Rev. Frank Chikane, visited the camp and said he had seen enough to know that ''police are involved in killing us.'' The police fought running battles with residents who hurled rocks and firebombs throughout the morning near the camp in the sprawling township southwest of Johannesburg.

Source: New York Times

Liberian Insurgents Kill President, Diplomats and Broadcasts Report

It is unclear whether the President died from gunshot wounds suffered during his capture or whether he was killed after arriving at rebel headquarters. President Doe was reportedly seen being interrogated by Mr. Johnson shortly before his death.

The State Department in Washington said it had been informed by what it described as various reliable sources that President Doe died after the weekend shootout with rebel forces. Mr. Johnson has declared himself President until an interim government takes over, though he has reportedly not taken possession of the palace in Monrovia that Mr. Doe occupied until Sunday. While Mr. Doe's death has removed a leading figure in the Liberian conflict, the situation remains complicated.

Mr. Johnson's forces control much of downtown Monrovia, while about 6,000 to 10,000 troops loyal to another rebel leader, Charles Taylor, dominate the country outside the capital. Brig. David Nimley, commander of Mr. Doe's military forces, announced Sunday night that he was in charge, indicating that the Doe group may remain a factor.

In addition, 4,000 troops from five West African countries are in Liberia as part of a peacekeeping force dispatched last month by the 16-nation Economic Community of West African States. This intervention, inspired largely by Nigeria, was conceived as an effort to stop hostilities and organize eventual elections. The international force made a naval landing and is now occupiying part of the port area. Late last month, commanders of the West African troops named Amos Sawyer head of an interim Government. Mr. Johnson's faction has welcomed the West African force, while Mr. Taylor's group opposes it and has battled fiercely with the international contingent on the capital's outskirts.

Reports of the death of Mr. Doe seemed to signal the further disintegration of what had remained of his army. Senior officials in the Doe Government were seen today trying to negotiate with the West African peacekeeping force to evacuate Mr. Doe's relatives and close associates. Many of his soldiers were said to be surrendering or stripping off their uniforms and trying to hide. Sporadic bursts of gunfire continued in central Monrovia throughout the day as Mr. Johnson's fighters hunted down the President's men.

Western diplomats and other sources said Mr. Doe was captured after he appeared unexpectedly at the headquarters of the five-nation peacekeeping force, which has been seeking to impose a cease-fire in a war in which more than 5,000 people are believed to have been killed. Tom Woweiyu, a spokesman for the rival rebel group led by Mr. Taylor, said that according to its intelligence reports Mr. Doe intended to leave the country, possibly under the escort of the peacekeeping force. A spokesman for Mr. Johnson's group also said today that the President was seeking refuge at the peacekeeping force headquarters in Monrovia's port area, but neither report could be confirmed. Shortly after Mr. Doe's arrival, Prince Johnson and his supporters arrived and a gunfight erupted. The rebel troops then hunted down the President's soldiers from room to room and slaughtered them. More than 60 people, including dozens of Mr. Doe's bodyguards, were reportedly killed in the battle. The President was reportedly wounded in both legs.

During the hourlong battle, members of the peacekeeing force made repeated appeals to both sides to stop firing, but were unable to stop the fighting. Western and African diplomats here said today that they were dismayed that the incident occurred at the peacekeeing force's heavily guarded headquarters, and some voiced concern that troops there may have acted in collusion with Mr. Johnson's rebels. There were also unconfirmed reports that Mr. Johnson may have lured President Doe into the area by promising to sign a cease-fire agreement with him. Late last month, Mr. Johnson's faction and Mr. Doe's group announced that they had reached a truce, and Mr. Johnson said publicly that Mr. Doe was no longer his main adversary.

According to reports from witnesses at the Johnson forces' base, Mr. Johnson later interrogated Mr. Doe at length about the whereabouts of large amounts of money he was supposed to have embezzled while in power. In an interview with the BBC shortly after Mr. Doe was captured, Mr. Johnson said he was not going to kill the President, but wanted him to stand trial.

The rebellion started last December when some 150 guerrillas, led by both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Taylor, launched sporadic raids on Government outposts in northeast Liberia. But after brutal army reprisals against the population in the area, the rebellion gathered momemtum and fighting eventually engulfed most of the country of about 2.5 million people, which is about the size of Ohio.

Tonight, Mr. Woweiyu, the Taylor spokesman, said his group was willing to hold cease-fire talks with Mr. Johnson, but only if the West African force ended its efforts to set up an interim government.

Source: New York Times

Liberian President Captured by Rebels In a Fierce Gunfight

According to sketchy reports from neighboring Liberia, a skirmish occurred outside the headquarters of the five-nation West African peacekeeping force sent into Liberia in an effort to end the civil war that began in December. More than 60 people, including dozens of Mr. Doe's bodyguards, were reportedly killed in the battle. The President himself was reported to have been shot in both legs before being taken away. By nightfall, there had been no word from a rival rebel faction led by Charles Taylor, which controls much of the country outside the capital. Liberia's civil war began last December when forces of the two rebel leaders invaded from the Ivory Coast, moving into Nimba County, about 300 miles northeast of Monrovia.

The Liberian Government sent troops and provincial policemen to oust the rebels. By most accounts, the soldiers then went on a rampage, indiscriminately killing and maiming hundreds of unarmed civilians - people they apparently believed were sympathetic to the rebels. At least 400,000 Liberians are believed to have fled across the eastern and northern frontiers to escape the bloodshed, most of them settling in the heavily forested hills of the Ivory Coast and Guinea.

In early February, the two rebel leaders split into rival factions, with Mr. Johnson accusing Mr. Taylor of corruption. Mr. Taylor, a former Cabinet member, also had been accused of corruption when he was serving in Mr. Doe's Government; the President charged he embezzled nearly $1 million in Government funds. Mr. Johnson also accused Mr. Taylor of having received arms and money from Libya, an accusation Mr. Taylor has denied.

The war has become increasingly three-sided, with the two rebel factions fighting each other and Mr. Doe trying to hold onto the small fraction of the country - mostly central Monrovia -that his troops still control. The bitter rivalry between Mr. Taylor and Mr. Johnson took an unexpected turn in late August, when Mr. Taylor announced that he had signed a cease-fire agreement with President Doe. Mr. Doe and Mr. Johnson were apparently discussing the agreement today when they began to argue and fighting erupted. It was not known what role the West African peacekeeping force had played in the incident, although it reportedly occurred outside its headquarters in Monrovia's port area. According to a BBC correspondent with the West African peacekeeping force in Monrovia, Mr. Johnson said tonight that he would court-martial Mr. Doe, a former soldier, but that he did not want to kill him.

The incident reportedly began when the President, who had only rarely left his heavily fortified executive mansion since July, appeared unexpectedly at the port headquarters of the peacekeeping force. About 10 minutes later, Mr. Johnson and several of his fighters reportedly arrived and began to quarrel with President Doe's bodyguards. The rebel troops then reportedly hunted down the President's soldiers from room to room and slaughtered them. Eventually, they grabbed the President and carried him off to their base camp outside the city. Members of the peacekeeping force reportedly made repeated appeals to the two sides, but were unable to stop the fighting.

In 1980, President Doe, a 28-year-old master sergeant who dropped out of the 11th grade, came to power after he and other army noncommissioned officers seized power from President William R. Tolbert, who was shot and bayoneted to death. Ten days later, foreign reporters were invited to watch 13 senior Government officials, including most of the former Cabinet, marched nearly naked through the streets of Monrovia, tied to seaside posts and then executed at point-blank range.

President Doe's international reputation never fully recovered from that incident. His image has also suffered from persistent accusations of human rights abuses. The State Department's 1989 human rights report, released shortly after the rebel invasion, said, "Brutality by police and other security officials during the arrest and questioning of individuals is fairly common, and there has been no evidence of Government efforts to halt this practice." Since Mr. Doe came to power, more than 20 senior Government officials and army officers have been executed on charges of plotting coups.

Source: New York Times

Refugees Report Liberian 'Scorched Earth' Drive on Rebels

Refugees fleeing fighting in northeastern Liberia have told of a "scorched earth" policy by the Liberian Army, sent into Nimba Province to put down an insurgency that started there two weeks ago. The refugees told a reporter for Agence France-Presse that the army had entered villages in the northeastern region with mounted machine guns and opened automatic fire.

Those who managed to escape across the river into the neighboring Ivory Coast said they had seen friends and relatives shot by the soldiers. The villages were then burned and terrified inhabitants chased into the bush, the refugees said. Ivory Coast officials have said up to 10,000 Liberian refugees have arrived in the Ivory Coast, but other reports have put the figures much lower.

Fighting began on Dec. 24, when insurgents opposed to the West African country's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, entered Nimba, the site of previous rebellions against General Doe. The rebellion is apparently led by Charles Taylor, a former minister in the Doe Government who fell into disfavor and fled the country after being charged with corruption. A man claiming to be Mr. Taylor phoned the BBC a week ago and said the rebels were seeking to overthrow General Doe. Mr. Taylor said his forces numbered 1,000. The Doe Government has said there are 200 insurgents.

The Government has said the rebel forces destroyed two towns, Kahntle and Butuo, in the initial incursion. General Doe, who as a master sergeant came to power in a violent coup in 1980, warned a rally in the capital, Monrovia, on Saturday that if anyone was caught harboring rebels, "we will treat you as a rebel. We will carry out a massive search," he said. "Furnish us with information if you want to be on the safe side."

General Doe, who accused the Ivory Coast of harboring the insurgents, warned his neighbor that Liberian forces would pursue the rebels back over the border. Gen. Edward Smith, in charge of crushing the uprising, was quoted by Radio Elwa in Liberia as saying that among the more than 200 men, women and children killed by the rebels were 7 people shot while praying in a mosque.

While Monrovia was apparently unaffected by the fighting in the northeast, there was concern that the killing of the great-grandson of a former Liberian President on Thursday might be connected with the events in Nimba. The victim, Robert Phillipa, found beheaded with his wrists cut at his home, was one of the main defendants in the 1985 treason trial that followed a coup attempt against General Doe.

Liberia, founded by freed American slaves in 1847 and long run by their descendants, has been the closest ally of the United States in West Africa. The relationship grew especially warm during the Reagan Administration, when General Doe received nearly $500 million in aid from Washington, making Liberia the largest per-capita recipient of American aid in sub-Saharan Africa.

A United States military communications station and transmitters for Voice of America broadcasts to Africa are situated in Liberia. It is the only country in West Africa where United States military planes can land with just 24 hours' notice. But Congress has become increasingly disenchanted with the Doe Government, particularly its refusal to clean up a corrupt economy or markedly improve its human rights record. Military aid has been steadily decreased to zero over the last several years, and economic aid was cut to $31.5 million last year.

Source: New York Times

3,000 West African Troops Leave For Liberia to Enforce Cease-Fire

Six ships carrying 3,000 West African soldiers sailed from here today to enforce a cease-fire in Liberia, where a 10,000-man rebel army has rejected a proposed truce. The West African Economic Community, which dispatched the soldiers, emphasized that the force was on a peaceful mission to halt the eight-month civil war. An estimated 5,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting. The fleet could reach Monrovia, the capital, as early as Friday morning.

A rebel leader, Charles Taylor, assailed the plan as a maneuver to keep President Samuel K. Doe in power. Mr. Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia is the largest of the three armies fighting for control of this West African nation of 2.5 million. The leader of another rebel group, Prince Johnson, and the forces loyal to President Doe have accepted the proposal for a truce. Mr. Johnson's rebels and Mr. Doe's army are in control of the capital, and Mr. Taylor's force controls most of the rest of Liberia. It was unclear whether the West African peacekeeping force will enter Monrovia when it arrives or wait offshore for more negotiations to bring about a truce. Its commander, Lieut. Gen. Arnold Quainoo of Ghana, has said he does not want to risk entering Liberia until all sides agreed to stop fighting.

Peace talks are to resume on Monday, but Mr. Taylor has not said whether he will send envoys. Troops from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Guinea have been assembling for weeks. Togo had said it would send troops, but did not. Efforts to persuade Mr. Taylor to accept a role by the force collapsed on Wednesday after his representatives and West African leaders conferred for two days in Banjul, Gambia.

The Gambian leader, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, chairman of the West African organization, issued a statement that said Mr. Taylor was responsible for the failure of the talks. It said the West African group agreed at the meeting to meet Mr. Taylor's demands for an initial 10-day truce, but that Mr. Taylor's delegates backed off when they learned that Mr. Doe and Mr. Johnson had agreed. Mr. Taylor said he was concerned that hundreds of the soldiers were provided by Nigeria and Guinea, whose leaders have in the past supported Mr. Doe. Mr. Taylor led his forces into Liberia from Ivory Coast in December, saying that Mr. Doe's Government was corrupt and he would oust it.

Mr. Taylor has refused to allow thousands of Nigerians and Guineans caught behind his lines on Monrovia's eastern outskirts to leave the country. His spokesman, Tom Woewiyu, said Tuesday that the rebels would ''fight to the last man'' against the West African soldiers. "There are enough guns floating around in Liberia," Mr. Woewiyu said. "For a group of people to come to Liberia with even bigger guns is like putting an explosive in a fire."

Mr. Taylor reportedly said this week that outside intervention would leave him free to call on whatever forces he pleased for help. He has denied charges by the United States and by Mr. Johnson, who was formerly his chief commander, that his rebels were trained and armed by Libya and Burkina Faso. West African leaders decided to intervene on Aug. 6. They have argued that the war is no longer an internal conflict because thousands of their citizens are trapped in Liberia and about 400,000 Liberian refugees are burdening neighboring countries.

Source: New York Times

Liberian Rebels Invade Capital's Center

Rebel fighters waded across a swamp and shot their way into the center of the capital today, surprising Government troops who had been defending two bridges leading into the city. The rebels were part of a splinter army led by Prince Johnson, now considered by some foreign diplomats to be the strongest force challenging President Samuel K. Doe in the seven-month civil war.

On the eastern outskirts of Monrovia, the forces of the other main rebel leader, Charles Taylor, have been stalled in their assault on the city. If Mr. Johnson's fighters topple President Doe before the other rebels have a chance to, there could be increased fighting between the rebel forces. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Taylor split after the rebel invasion in December, and their forces have clashed before.

Diplomats said President Doe was a virtual hostage of his bodyguards at the heavily fortified presidential palace. The bodyguards, soldiers of Mr. Doe's own Krahn tribe, are convinced they will be massacred if the rebels take the capital and are apparently trying to use the President as a bargaining chip to obtain safe passage out of Monrovia. The Gio and Mano tribes are on the side of the rebels, turning the civil war into an outright tribal conflict. Journalists with the insurgents already have reported rebel killings of Krahns in retaliation for the killing of civilian rebel supporters by Government troops.

A United States official in Washington said Mr. Johnson's forces advanced on Monrovia's center today through a swamp from Bushrod Island, an island in the northwestern part of the city that they control, and across two bridges that were not being heavily defended by Government forces. Many of Mr. Doe's forces were seen dropping their weapons and fleeing after the surprise attack. The President's soldiers fought back from atop tall buildings. Heavy machine-gun and rifle fire shook downtown streets.

Air Cargo of Liberia, which ran the last air link into Monrovia, operated its last flight on Sunday, filled with fleeing refugees. At a supermarket opposite the main military barracks in Monrovia, the owner, Youssef Fawaz, was asked if he was planning to leave as well. "Now I have no more stock, there is nothing else left for me to do," he said. "Only, I don't know how to leave." His store's shelves were empty except for a few cans of powdered milk, boxes of tea bags and crates filled with shoe polish.

The United States official said Mr. Johnson's forces appeared to be stronger than Mr. Taylor's. Mr. Johnson began feuding with Mr. Taylor after the rebel invasion last year. Mr. Taylor has accused him of killing several of his soldiers. Mr. Johnson's men forced Mr. Taylor to delay a planned assault on Monrovia by attacking his soldiers and forcing them to regroup.

On Sunday, President Doe vowed to remain in the capital until a clear victor emerges in the civil war. Diplomats said that even if he wanted to leave sooner, the soldiers guarding him would not leave without guarantees for their safety. In exchange for allowing Mr. Doe to leave, the Krahn soldiers seek safe passage to their home territory in Grand Gedeh County. Grand Gedeh is Mr. Doe's last remaining stronghold, apart from his few remaining square miles in downtown Monrovia.

The rebels began their offensive in December and effectively control two-thirds of the country of 2.4 million people. They have accused Mr. Doe, who took power in a 1980 coup, of corruption, mismanagement and human rights abuses. Mr. Taylor has promised to maintain close ties with the United States if he comes to power, but he has ruled out immediate elections.

Liberia, founded by freed American slaves 150 years ago, has traditionally had close ties with Washington. Washington refused to send in a peacekeeping force, and on Saturday Mr. Doe ordered the American military attache expelled, accusing him of helping the rebels. The United States denied the accusations.

Source: New York Times

Besieged Liberian Talks of Elections

With rebel forces advancing on the capital, Gen. Samuel K. Doe announced today that he would not seek re-election to the presidency next year. He also appealed to the United States and other nations to help end the five-month conflict here and supervise elections in 1991.

Six United States Navy ships carrying 2,300 marines were on the way here from the Mediterranean to prepare for the possible evacuation of American citizens. Western diplomats said the convoy is expected to reach the Liberian coast next Tuesday. General Doe told reporters at a news conference that the Sixth Fleet set sail "with the approval of the Government of Liberia."

General Doe said that while the 1991 elections would be open to the country's established political parties, they would not likely include the rebel leader, Charles Taylor, who he called a "wanted man in this country."

"Until the Government can give Charles Taylor clemency, I will not talk to him," General Doe said. For their part, guerrilla leaders reiterated today that they would not negotiate with General Doe, and that his decision not to seek reelection would not dissuade them from invading Monrovia, the capital. In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation from Washington, Tom Woweiyu, a rebel spokesman, said, "The only offer that Doe can make now to us that will make any sense is to surrender himself to the Patriotic Front and to the people of Liberia to stand for prosecution."

Signs of anxiety, panic and growing chaos are evident throughout the city. Most neighborhoods had little or no water, and electrical outages were frequent. The streets were lined with crowds waiting in vain for transportation. The scarcity of transportation came about because members of the Mandingo tribe, who control much of the private taxi and bus service, have fled the capital. At grocery stores throughout the city, shoppers frantically tried to stock up. At one store, James Gaye, an electrician working in a hospital, said he was trying to buy enough frozen chicken and other items to last for at least a month. Like many others, he had opened his home to relatives who had fled from the fighting in the countryside. "I've got only one bed in my house," said Mr. Gaye, who is single, "and I've got 14 relatives now trying to sleep there." He asked, "How am I going to feed all these people?"

Nearby, Nancy Yekeson was searching through mostly empty shelves of canned foods. She, her husband and four children were packing up and driving to Sierra Leone, a neighbor nation, in hopes of avoiding the expected rebel onslaught. "If you can get out, God knows, you go," she said. Most worrisome, residents said, were reports of mutilated bodies found in densely populated residential areas. At least two bodies were found this morning, one of a girl who appeared to be about 12 years old.

Tensions have also been heightened by newspaper reports of Government soldiers harassing and killing civilians and looting stores. "Man Killed by New Recruit" and "31-Year-Old Man Stabbed by Soldier" read two headlines on the same page today in The Standard, a Monrovian newspaper. Despite the evident fear, some residents said they were beginning to doubt whether the threatened rebel invasion would ever come. It has been nearly three weeks since Mr. Taylor, the rebel leader, said a takeover of the city was imminent. But except for scattered reports from skirmishes near Roberts Field, Monrovia's international airport, the rebel presence has been slight. Reports of fighting near the airport, however, have prompted most airlines to cancel flights. "They've been saying they're coming, but I'm beginning to believe that's a lot of mouth-talk," said Abu Kromah, a Monrovian taxi driver. Yet, Mr. Kromah, like many Monrovians who have the means, was preparing to take his family out of the city.

The warfare started five months ago when about 150 guerrillas invaded a half-dozen hamlets in northeastern Liberia. The Liberian Government sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. Since then, the rebels, their numbers increased several-fold, have pushed their army out of virtually all the northeastern quarter of the country. They have asserted that they control Buchanan, the port city about 88 miles by road from the capital, and that they are advancing on two fronts within 35 miles of Monrovia. The rebel force, which calls itself the National Patriotic Front, is drawn mainly from the Gio and Mono tribes of northeastern Liberia, who say they have been oppressed by members of General Doe's tribe, the Krahn.

General Doe seized power in a violent 1979 coup that ousted the privileged descendants of freed American slaves, who founded this nation. Today, a network of red-clay logging roads linking Monrovia with northwestern Liberia were clogged with overloaded vehicles fleeing the city. Because the rebel forces reportedly control the main arteries to the east and north, the western route is the only way out of the capital. Throughout Monrovia, talk centered on the United States Navy flotilla, which includes a destroyer, an amphibious assault ship, a tank landing ship and other support vessels carrying ammunition and combat supplies.

At the same time, many residents here said they were suspicious of the United States' decision to send the craft, and some wondered whether United States troops might try to prop up General Doe's Government. "Why do they need to send so many soldiers?" was a question heard often today.

The United States has extensive interests here, including a Voice of America radio transmitter and an Omega marine communications equipment station, which helps guide American vessels in the Atlantic Ocean - all of which are located fewer than 20 miles from the southern rebel front. United States Embassy officials here said that about 1,100 American citizens, including several hundred missionaries, remain in the country. About 4,000 expatriates fled last month.

Source: New York Times

U.S. Sends Ships to Pull Americans Out of Liberia

The United States is sending ships to evacuate Americans from Liberia because rebel forces are advancing on Monrovia, the capital, Bush Administration officials said tonight. "The State Department is ordering the departure of non-essential personnel and U.S. Government dependents from the Embassy in Monrovia," said a statement by the agency this evening.

The statement said that rebels have taken Buchanan, the second largest city in the nation, 88 miles from the capital, and that atrocities had been committed in Monrovia in recent days. [The Associated Press reported from Monrovia that some rebels had clashed with Government troops 25 miles from the capital.] The United States is "taking appropriate steps to be able to help American citizens leave Liberia" while the airport is still open, the statement added.

One Administration official said that three Navy amphibious ships had been sent to Liberia. Officials said there are 102 American officials and dependents and about 1,100 private American citizens in Liberia. Even though Roberts Field, the international airport 55 miles from Monrovia, is still open, the United States has sent the ships because it is afraid that all of the Americans will not be able to leave the capital by plane in time to avoid possible fighting there. ---- Peace Talks Rejected By KENNETH B. NOBLE MONROVIA, Liberia, May 31 - In a radio interview heard today throughout this West African nation, the leader of rebel forces rejected calls for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

Charles Taylor, the rebel leader, said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Company that he would not be satisfied until Gen. Samuel K. Doe, the country's president, resigned or was removed from office. "Doe is in no position to talk peace," said Mr. Taylor, who spoke to the BBC by telephone, apparently from Buchanan, the country's second largest city.

Mr. Doe has also repeatedly rejected the idea of negotiations, and talking to diplomats here this morning, he reiterated that he had no intention of resigning. According to a diplomat who attended the meeting, the President said that he would be the "last person to flee" in the face of a rebel advance. However, this capital is increasingly taking on a siege atmosphere, as foreign agencies suspend operations and airline links are cut.

Early today, Air Afrique and Ghana Airways, the two main commercial links between Liberia and the rest of West Africa, announced that they would no longer fly into the country. Swissair also announced that it was canceling tomorrow's flight from Europe, although it might be resumed next week if security conditions improve. Other airlines, including Sabena and British Airways, are continuing their service for the time being.

The United Nations announced that it was ending its emergency food program here for refugees of the civil war, and that its remaining foreign workers were preparing to leave. It took the action after an attack by Government soldiers on the United Nations compound here in which a security guard was killed, and about 40 refugees abducted. The Standard, a Monrovia newspaper, reported today that 15 unidentified bodies - men, women and children -were found near the place where the refugees were said to have been taken by the soldiers. All those abducted were members of the Gio and Mano tribes, from which rebels are said to draw much of their support.

Earlier this week, the Japanese Embassy, one of Liberia's largest foreign aid donors, also announced that it was closing and urged its citizens to leave. Despite Mr. Doe's defiant attitude, an unusually large number of officials in his government are reported to be out of the country on official business and the capital abounds with rumors of more fleeing across the borders. Nearly half of the stores along U.N. Drive, Monrovia's leading commercial strip, are shut, many of them boarded up. The rows of wood stalls in the city's main market are nearly deserted and many Government offices were virtually empty by early afternoon.

By contrast, several downtown hotels, which in recent weeks have been mostly vacant because of the absence of business travelers, are suddenly now filling up with Liberians, many of them Government officials. Some Government officials are said to believe they are safer in the hotels than in their homes.

Mr. Taylor told the BBC that he was calling from Buchanan. Asked when he intended to capture Monrovia, Mr. Taylor replied; "If I can get to Monrovia over the next few hours, I'll be there." Sketchy accounts from around the town of Kakata, about 45 miles north of Monrovia, say that rebel troops have surrounded the army garrison there and ambushed supply convoys trying to reach them. It is impossible, however, to determine how close the rebels are to the capital because reporters who have tried to reach the area had been turned back by government troops who say it is too dangerous to proceed further.

Source: New York Times

Liberian Soldiers Reportedly Attack U.N. Center

Liberian Government soldiers were reported today to have entered a United Nations compound here and abducted about 40 refugees who had taken shelter there in the face of a continuing advance by rebels toward this nervous capital.

Witnesses said that eight soldiers, some of them wearing masks, entered the compound of the United Nations Development Program early this morning and shot to death a civilian security guard. They then rounded up the refugees, stripped them of their clothes and took them away to a deserted site on the outskirts of the city. According to several refugees who managed to escape from the abductors, the others were later shot and killed by the soldiers. This afternoon, four unidentified bodies were found near the place where the incident was said to have occurred. In all, about 400 refugees had been sleeping at the United Nations compound, most of them people who came from Nimba County in the north where the rebels are said to have drawn the bulk of their support among members of the region's Gio and Mano tribes.

The encampment of refugees grew in the last two weeks. Last Friday, about 200 of the Gio and Mano tribespeople came to the United States Embassy seeking safety and shelter. They were told by officials that there was liitle that could be done for them and they were directed to the United Nations and the International Red Cross. Speaking of the attackers today, Michael Heyn, the United Nations representative in Monrovia, described the group that stormed the compound: "From the reports we have, they were army soldiers, dressed in army uniforms, driving army trucks," he said. "The guards tried to prevent them from coming in, they shot one and bayoneted another, and they began shooting indiscriminately. We were told they grabbed people with children in their arms and threw them on the trucks." More than 300 people remained at the compound after the assault.

Mr. Heyn added that he was "completely astounded and unbelieving" that such an incident could happen and said that it was a serious infringement of international law. Because of the incident, the United Nations Secretary General announced in New York today that it had ordered the immediate evacuation of all personnel from Liberia. The move is expected to complicate relief efforts because the United Nations remains one of the main agencies providing food, and organizing medical help for the tens of thousands of displaced people who have fled northeastern Liberia since the fighting began five months ago.

Late this afternoon, President Samuel K. Doe went to the compound to talk to diplomats. As he entered the gates, he was confronted by an angry crowd. "I want you to know that those people who would do this kind of thing, they are doing it on their own," the President said, "and I'm going to deal with them drastically."

The brief speech was met with scattered hissing, and some of the young men in the crowd taunted the soldiers who were with the President. ''Don't believe him! Don't believe him!'' one of the refugees shouted.

The warfare started when about 250 guerrillas invaded half a dozen hamlets in the northeast region. The Liberian Government sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. Since then the rebels, led by Charles Taylor, a former Cabinet member under Mr. Doe, have increased their force by several thousand and have pushed the army virtually out of of Nimba County, Liberia's primary agricultural, mining and logging region. The rebels now sey they have beseiged Buchanan, the port east of Monrovia.

Source: New York Times

Liberia's Leader Finds Himself With Few Allies

The small circle of confidants with whom President Samuel K. Doe has surrounded himself was notably smaller today with many of the palace regulars having left this capital in the face of an approaching insurgency. "A lot of them have just disappeared. They're fleeing a sinking ship," said a prominent politician here who, citing prudence, asked that his name not be used. He noted that the absence of these people became embarrassingly apparent last week when a rally in support of Mr. Doe was held on the steps of the presidential mansion. Members of the Liberian leader's family were there, but virtually all the members of his once closely knit political coterie were absent. With rebel forces advancing in recent days to a point within 35 miles of the capital, Mr. Doe is increasingly an isolated and besieged figure.

Among those who have not been seen here and are now believed to have fled the country is one of the President's closest friends and collaborators, J. Emmanuel Bowier, the Minister of Information. Other high-profile Government figures who have dropped out of sight are Emmanuel Shaw, the Minister of Finance, and Elijah Taylor, the Minister of Planning. "It's nearly impossible these days to get to someone who's really in charge," said an African diplomat from a neighboring country. "The whole Government seems to be run by acting ministers."

The leadership void is perhaps most noticeable in the Information Ministry, which seems rudderless since Mr. Bowier left for Washington a month ago as part of a delegation that sought to explain the fighting to American officials. Back in Monrovia, no news briefings were scheduled for weeks, and when official reports about the fighting were finally issued, they were widely regarded as unreliable. "We look to foreign sources to tell us what's happening in the war because the Government is always so slow, and in that climate a lot of rumors fly," said Winston Tubman, a lawyer and son of the late Liberian President, William V. S. Tubman.

A Western diplomat who has seen the President in recent days said "he is flying by the seat of his pants. He's getting information from a very narrow range of sources," the envoy added.

Initially, President Doe publicly dismissed the rebels as little more than an annoyance, a small band of lightly armed and poorly trained malcontents. This view was reinforced by some of the military advisers who repeatedly insisted that the rebels were on the verge of defeat. "He's been very badly informed about the war," said a politician who remains close to the President. He added that the problems are compounded because Mr. Doe has a low tolerance for criticism. The President, who was an army master sergeant when he led 17 noncommissioned officers in a coup 10 years ago in which President William R. Tolbert Jr. and others were bayoneted and shot to death on a beach below the executive mansion.

On seizing power, Sergeant Doe, an 11th-grade dropout who had been trained two years earlier by a United States Special forces unit, became the 20th Liberian head of state and the first one who was not a direct descendent of the freed American slaves who founded this country in 1847. During the early years of his presidency, Mr. Doe was helped by a group of young, educated civilian technocrats who included Charles Taylor, the man leading the rebels now, a force that calls itself the National Patriotic Front. Last June, after several years of night courses and private tutoring, Mr. Doe graduated from the University of Liberia, where he received a degree in political science. He wrote his senior thesis on relations between Liberia and the United States.

In a recent interview at a guest house near the executive mansion, Mr. Doe made clear his disdain for Mr. Taylor, referring to the man who had once served in his Cabinet as a fugitive from justice. In that conversation the President portrayed himself as a Liberian patriot. "I wanted you to know that there is nothing I love more than my country, and I want to do anything to bring peace," he said. He has also told associates, however, that the one thing he will not do is resign under pressure. "He was thrust into leadership at a relatively young age, with absolutely no preparation, so the pressures have been intense," a Western diplomat said. "Still, a lot of people don't understand him."

This diplomat reflected the views of several others when he described Mr. Doe as having a ruthless streak when dealing with his enemies. Mr. Doe is particularly bitter, according to several Liberians, about the growing disaffection of American officials with his Government. "Doe really believes that the United States is partially to blame for the Taylor invasion," a Liberian politician said. "He believes the Americans have given aid to the rebels."

Others who have seen President Doe in recent days say he has become more elusive and enigmatic than ever. He is rarely seen in public, and for security reasons, is said to sleep in a different house every night. He is reported to have sent his wife, Nancy, and six children to Britain to stay until the crisis is resolved. "He's determined to stick this out, and he thinks he can win," a Liberian said. "Hardly anyone else here is that confident."

Source: New York Times

War of Quick but Brutal Clashes Unfolds in Liberia

A week later, the evidence is still here. Lying in two shallow ditches behind the village are 15 bodies, swollen and decaying in the sweltering heat of the West African sun. People who are fleeing from this small village and surrounding hamlets say they saw Government troops round up people in six villages and shoot many here before the soldiers ran away on May 9. But the villagers said the gruesome outburst here was hardly unusual. The fighting began last December, when guerrillas opposed to Liberia's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, invaded the lushly forested hills here in the north. The Liberian Government then sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. Since then, a war of small, quick and often brutal engagements has unfolded, attracting little international attention.

The rebels assertion that they control 75 percent of rural Liberia is clearly excessive. But they appear to be able to move freely in more than a third of the country, making what they call liberated zones a practical reality. No definitive accounting of civilian casualties has been compiled. But Western diplomats and missionaries and other travelers through the northeastern corner of Liberia, where the fighting has centered, as well as Liberians with friends and relatives in the area, put the figure of those killed at 700 civilians or more. The Government in Liberia has not sought to deny or play down such reports.

A three-day visit through northeastern Liberia, in the company of rebel guides, showed that the guerrilla force of at least a thousand people has turned hundreds of square miles of the country into a war zone of charred huts and crumbled and blocked bridges that give them control of key roads. The guerrillas seem well equipped and appear to be at least as disciplined as the Government forces. Although the rebels also assert that they have a clandestine presence in Monrovia and the port of Buchanan, Charles Taylor, the former minister who is leading the revolt, said the rebel strategy is to gain control of rural Liberia before trying to invade urban areas. He made his comments during an interview at his base, a former Baptist mission in Tapeta, about 130 miles east of Monrovia. In this area where the rebel forces are in control, the signs of warfare are everywhere - at roadblocks guarded by heavily armed men wearing tattered rags, in the machine-gun nests on hilltops, in the trucks loaded with rebels hurtling through the countryside.

Production in the country's vital mining and logging industries has virtually halted, and the sudden flight of tens of thousands of farmers from the agriculturally rich Nimba region has clouded the prospect for this year's vital rice harvest. Nearly 200,000 of the 270,000 people estimated to reside in Nimba County have fled their homes because of the fighting and have sought sanctuary in neighboring Guinea, the Ivory Coast or in and around the Liberian capital, Monrovia. Government administration in Nimba County has ceased to function and the turmoil here, many Liberians fear, will soon threaten the rest of the nation unless a settlement is reached soon. Nonetheless, ever since the rebellion began and as recently as last week, General Doe has repeatedly asserted in Monrovia that his troops are maintaining complete control of the country. The rebels, General Doe has said, are only an annoyance, a small band of lightly armed and poorly trained dissidents fighting in isolated mountainous areas.

Mr. Taylor asserted that the insurgency was gainining momentum as it headed toward the capital. "I can assure you that we are in striking distance of Monrovia," Mr. Taylor said in the interview. Mr. Taylor, 42 years old, a stocky man of medium height with a trim beard, is a former Cabinet minister who is remembered by many Liberians for fleeing the country in 1986 after being accused of embezzlement. The rebel leader told reporters today that the charges were false and that he had been framed by General Doe.

On Saturday, the rebels captured Yekepa, site of Liberia's biggest industrial complex, an iron-ore mine. Today, heavy fighting took place around Buchanan, which the rebels say they have surrounded. Residents near the airport at Robertsfield, about 25 miles east of Monrovia, reportedly have begun to flee as fighting draws near. As Western reporters were escorted by rebel troups through Nimba and Grand Bassa counties, villagers waved, chanted and danced to show their support. "Our leader Mr. Taylor! Our leader Mr. Taylor!" they shouted. 'Doe Has Been Bad' But when asked what they thought about the rebel leader, many of the villagers confessed that they knew virtually nothing about him. Indeed, what appears to have driven many to the rebel cause was not Mr. Taylor, but rather their hatred for General Doe.

In addition to the villagers, human-rights monitors, among them members of Amnesty International and Africa Watch, based in London and Washington respectively, said they had received reports that soldiers engaged in vicious and mostly arbitrary reprisals against people they believed were sympathetic to the rebel cause. Asked about reports that Liberian soldiers were abusing unarmed civilians, General Doe offered no apologies and insisted that Government troops only pursued rebels.

Last week, Monrovia was awash in rumors that the Government was seeking a negotiated settlement with the rebels. "Doe has begun to realize that things are not going his way, and if he doesn't act soon, the rebels are going to be camped on the lawn of the executive mansion," said an African diplomat from a neighboring country.

Mr. Taylor told reporters that he wanted to get rid of General Doe and install democracy. And while he has not ruled out negotiations, he said there would be no bargaining as long as General Doe is in office. "We want Doe gone," Mr. Taylor said. "Dead or alive."

Source: New York Times

Liberian President Leads the Good Life While His Country Grows Poorer

The delivery of a new luxury plane for the personal use of the Liberian President made front-page headlines in January in this impoverished West African country. The 60-seater Boeing 707, which diplomats here say was purchased for nearly $20 million, is "yet another cost-saving measure adopted by the Government," the state-owned newspaper said, because "it will minimize the high cost of chartering private planes." What news reports did not mention, however, is that only two runways in this small country are long enough to accommodate the new aircraft, and both are near Monrovia, the capital. As for foreign travel, the President, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, has not flown overseas since he visited Romania nearly three years ago. "It's an immense waste of money," a Liberian businessman said, "especially in a country that is nearly bankrupt."

In its way, the new plane may be an apt metaphor for Liberia, which often gives the impression of forward motion, while it is rolling steadily toward financial and political collapse. Liberia is rich in minerals and has one of West Africa's most skilled and educated work forces. It also has a reputation as one of the African continent's most egregious examples of economic mismanagement. The timing of the plane's arrival was especially striking, Western and Liberian analysts said, because it came during the visit of a delegation from the International Monetary Fund. "To acquire that plane right now, with everyone watching so closely, is either an act of incredible arrogance or incredible incompetence," a longtime Western resident said.

Three years ago Liberia, which was founded in the mid-19th century as a republic for freed American slaves, became the only country in Africa ever suspended from I.M.F. and World Bank borrowing. The lenders and the Government are in the midst of negotiations over the next disciplinary step - whether Liberia should be formally declared in default and unlikely to repay $1.2 billion in debt owed to them and other foreign creditors. Later this year, in the third and final step of the sanctions process, Liberia could become the first country ever expelled from the international lending agency.

At the same time the United States, Liberia's largest trading partner and foreign investor, is also cutting back. From 1980 to 1985, the United States gave this country of 2.3 million people nearly $500 million in aid and loans, making Liberia the largest per-capita recipient of American aid in sub-Saharan Africa. But charging mismanagement and misappropriation, the United States Congress has steadily slashed aid levels, to $19.5 million last year and about $10 million in 1990.

The sense of economic disarray is compounded, Western donors and bankers say, by President Doe's growing appetite for government-subsidized extravagance. He owns a small fleet of luxury automobiles and is said to spend lavishly on clothes and jewelry. And while no reliable estimate has ever been made, rumors run through the capital that General Doe and his wife, Nancy, and other family members have accumulated extensive real-estate holdings.

One telling detail about Mr. Doe's changing values, Liberian political analysts say, is his insistence on being called "Dr. Doe," the consequence of a visit to South Korea several years ago in which he received an honorary doctorate. By law, the President's image appears ubiquitiously in public places and many people hang his picture in private offices as a display of fealty. "He is definitely encouraging a cult of personality," a Liberian businessman said, "and you don't dare suggest that there's anything wrong with it."

Well-connnected senior Government workers have also grown wealthy through lucrative business opportunities obtained through the executive mansion. And despite the Government's deteriorating fiscal condition, in recent months at least a dozen West German limousines were purchased for the small group of political cronies who surround the President. Nonetheless, when confronted with accusations of corruption, the 39-year old General Doe has said he is a victim of disinformation and has blamed his political opponents for such reports. The President's aides said he was too busy to be interviewed.

Of late, however, the most immediate threat to the Doe leadership is an armed one. Since late December, Government forces have been trying to crush an invasion by guerrillas opposed to the President's rule. The rebels, led by Charles Taylor, a former Doe Cabinet minister who is remembered here mostly for fleeing the country in 1986 after being accused of embezzlement, invaded Nimba County, about 300 miles northeast of Monrovia. The Liberian Government sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. In interviews on the Ivory Coast side of the border, refugees reported that the soldiers indiscriminately engaged in vicious and mostly arbitary reprisals, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians - people they apparently believed were sympathetic to the rebel cause.

Amnesty International and Africa Watch, human rights groups, as well as the United States Embassy in Monrovia, have also said that soldiers attacked unarmed civilians. So far, at least 140,000 Liberians are believed to have fled across the eastern frontiers to escape the bloodshed, most of them settling in the heavily forested hills of the Ivory Coast and Guinea.

Diplomats say that about half of Nimba County - its northern and eastern portions - is still contested. Guerrilla activity in these areas remains strong, and the army has been unable, despite a variety of tactics, to bring them under control. The Nimba invasion also has potentially far-reaching implications for Liberia's economy because about 30 percent of agricultural production comes from the region. By the accounting of Western economists, the sudden flight of tens of thousands of farmers has already clouded the prospects for this year's rice harvest, and there is talk of potential food shortages and other hardships. "If there is anything people react to here, it is food shortages and price increases; that combination could be explosive," said a Western relief worker who recalled that it was nearly a decade ago that proposals to increase the price of rice set off a wave of protest that eventually led to the overthrow of President William R. Tolbert.

In 1980, General Doe, an 11th-grade dropout and a 28-year-old master sergeant, came to power after he and other army noncommissioned officers shot and bayoneted President Tolbert and took over the Government. Ten days later, the foreign press was invited to record the sight of 13 senior Government officials, including most of the former Cabinet, marched nearly naked through the streets of Monrovia, tied to seaside posts and then executed at point-blank range. President Doe's international reputation has never fully recovered from that moment. Leaders of neighboring West African countries, particularly the President of the Ivory Coast, Felix Houphouet Boigny, have maintained diplomatically correct but nonetheless strained relations with the Liberian leader.

General Doe's image here and abroad has also suffered from persistent accusations of human rights abuses. The State Department's 1989 human rights report said, "Brutality by police and other security officials during the arrest and questioning of individuals is fairly common, and there has been no evident government effort to halt this practice."

Liberia's tightly controlled press rarely touches on such subjects and those who do can be expected to be dealt with ruthlessly. Dozens of journalists have been detained in recent years, often without charges, and several newspapers have been closed. The Daily Observer, Monrovia's leading independent paper, has been ordered shut five times since 1982, once for almost 20 months. Perhaps the greatest source of internal tension in recent years is the widespread impression here that a Krahn tribal elite has begun to replace the American-Liberian elite that virtually ran the country until the 1980 coup.

Unlike most countries in West Africa, until recently Liberia has been relatively free of ethnic strife. This began to change with the ascendancy of President Doe, a Krahn. Since then, the Krahn, though they make up only about 4 percent of the population, are disproportionately represented in the executive mansion, senior government positions, and the leadership of the armed forces. Most significant, senior military soldiers directing government forces in Nimba County reportedly engaged in bullying tactics and even murder. Most of the officers were Krahn, and the civilians attacked, members of the Gio and Mandingo tribes.

Source: New York Times

GORBACHEV CALLS LITHUANIA'S MOVE AN 'ALARMING' STEP

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev today described Lithuania's declaration of independence as ''alarming,'' but he gave no indication of what the Kremlin's next move would be. He said the decision on Sunday by the Lithuanian parliament should be examined by the Soviet national legislature, which convened today in a special session. But neither Mr. Gorbachev nor other other Soviet officials said whether Moscow would recognize the independence of Lithuania, which was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 after 22 years as a sovereign nation. ''The information coming from there is alarming,'' Mr. Gorbachev said. ''The decisions that are being taken affect the fundamental interests and destiny of the republic itself, of the people and of our entire state.''

Mr. Gorbachev has struggled over the last few months to persuade Lithuanian leaders to abandon their campaign for independence. The Soviet President's remarks, at the opening of the special session of the Congress of the People's Deputies, offered no indication of whether he would negotiate with Lithuanian leaders. Lithuania's resolution was the first issue raised by Mr. Gorbachev before the congress, which was hastily convened so that it could adopt a new law expanding the executive powers of the presidency. He said the congress should begin analyzing the implications of Lithuania's proclamation, which was approved by the Baltic republic's parliament in a 124-to-0 vote.

Source: New York Times

President of the Ivory Coast Rejects Democracy Demands

President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, breaking a five-year public silence in the face of fierce opposition to his 30-year rule, today rejected demands for multiparty democracy and said he would use force to keep order.

Mr. Houphouet-Boigny, who is at least 84 years old, said at his first news conference in five years, ''Faced with injustice and disorder, I shall not hesitate to choose injustice.''

He blamed Western companies for the unrest and said they were trying to destabilize the country by driving down prices of cocoa and coffee, the Ivory Coast's main exports.

Source: New York Times

For Liberia's Army, the Spoils Include the People's Hatred

Sakou Saysay has had enough and wants to leave. The only obstacle now is finding a wagon big enough to take his 3 wives and 18 children. "I'm sick of living like this," said Mr. Saysay, a farmer who has lived in this remote village in northeastern Liberia for nearly 20 years. "A man can't sleep in peace here anymore."

Most of his goats, chickens and sheep have been stolen by marauding gangs of Liberian soldiers, he said. Some of his neighbors have also been held at gunpoint and forced to give money. A few have been killed. "I'm going to Guinea while I still have time, before they get me too," Mr. Saysay said. He will be joining a growing exodus of Liberians who are fleeing the worst outbreak of violence in this West African country in recent years. Diplomats and journalists say that as many as 70,000 people - about a third of Nimba County - have fled Liberia, mostly crossing into Guinea or the Ivory Coast.

The violence erupted in late December, when guerrillas opposed to Liberia's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, invaded this lushly forested area nestled in the Nimba Mountains. The Liberian Government then sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. After a bloody campaign, the Liberian Army is generally believed to have succeeded in securing the eastern half of Nimba County. But scattered fighting is reported to continue between the Liberian forces and the insurgents led by Charles Taylor, a former Cabinet minister who fell into disfavor and fled the country after being charged with corruption. Though the rebels are said to attack civilian as well as military targets, the stories told in towns and villages in this area are almost uniformly ones of bitterness toward the Liberian Army. "The situation is not about the rebels," Mr. Saysay said. "It's about the soldiers."

A Western diplomat said: "Soldiers were supposed to be up there to rid the area of rebels. But ironically, because they were such brutes, they have created a lot of sympathy for the rebels." Most residents of Nimba County are members of the Gio and Mano tribes, which are also the tribes of many of Mr. Taylor's followers. By contrast, most of the senior military officers directing Government forces here are said to be members of the Krahn tribe, as is President Doe. The Krahns, who are about five percent of the population, now dominate much of Liberia's political life.

At the once-bustling trading town of Sanoquelli, dozens of abandoned storefronts and the mostly deserted streets testify to the bloody events of January. Diplomats and international relief workers estimate that at least 500 civilians have been killed. Residents here say the dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed by the military has introduced a new element of fear. "If soldiers arrest you for curfew, they ask you for money, and if you don't give it to them, they kill you," said Mamade Kende, a farmer in Gbapa. He said he had to pay a soldier $15 not to rape his daughter. The starting monthly salary for a Liberian soldier is about $50.

Liberian forces have allowed journalists to tour secure areas of Nimba County but have blocked access to an area between Zulowi and Kahnple. Refugees who have fled across the border into the Ivory Coast and Guinea said that it was mostly in that region that soldiers went on a rampage. Asked about reports that Liberian soldiers were abusing unarmed civilians, military officials here insisted that their operations had been confined to pursuing the rebels and that any attacks on civilians were committed by the rebels. Brig. Gen. Moses K. Draig, the commander of Government forces here, said: "Harassment on the part of our troops is out of the question. They've got too much to do."

Source: New York Times

SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW ERA; MANDELA, FREED, URGES STEP-UP IN PRESSURE TO END WHITE RULE

After 27 and a half years in prison, Nelson Mandela finally won his freedom today and promptly urged his supporters at home and abroad to increase their pressure against the white minority Goverment that had just released him. ''We have waited too long for our freedom,'' Mr. Mandela told a cheering crowd from a balcony of Cape Town's old City Hall. ''We can wait no longer.'' ''Now is the time to intensify the struggle on all fronts,'' he said. ''To relax our efforts now would be a mistake which generations to come will not able to forgive.''

Mr. Mandela's 20-minute speech, which he prepared before leaving prison today, constituted his first remarks in public since before he was sentenced in June 1964 to life imprisonment for conspiracy to overthrow the Government and engage in sabotage. He asked the international community not to lift its sanctions against South Africa, despite the recent changes introduced by President F. W. de Klerk, which culminated in Mr. Mandela's release. ''To lift sanctions now would be to run the risk of aborting the process toward ending apartheid,'' he said.

Mr. Mandela's voice sounded firm and his words as eloquently militant as when he defended violence as the ultimate recourse at his political trial in 1964. Though he looked all of his 71 years and was grayer than artists' renditions over the years had depicted, he walked out of Victor Verster prison erect and vigorous. In Washington, President Bush rejoiced over the release of Mr. Mandela, spoke to him by telephone and invited the anti-apartheid leader to visit the White House. Mr. Mandela gave no evidence that his militant opposition to apartheid had been tempered by the more than 10,000 days he spent in confinement. But he also said nothing that would have surprised the Government had he said it during his years of incarceration. Indeed, there appeared to be nothing in Mr. Mandela's initial remarks after his release to give the Government much consolation or encouragement. Although he has been viewed as a potential leader for all South Africans, he stressed time and again that his loyalty lay with the African National Congress, for which he was working underground when he was jailed in August 1962 on charges of incitement and leaving the country illegally. He was serving time on that conviction when he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964.

Mr. Mandela told a crowd that he remained a ''loyal and disciplined member'' of the African National Congress and still endorsed its policies, including its use of armed struggle against the white minority Government. He said he saluted the congress's military wing, Spear of the Nation, and its ally, the South African Communist Party, ''for its steady contribution to the struggle for democracy.'' But he also thanked the Black Sash, an organization of white women working to end apartheid, and the predominantly white National Union of South African Students for being ''the conscience of white South Africans.'' And he held out an olive branch to all whites, asking them to join in shaping a new South Africa. ''The freedom movement is a political home for you, too,'' he said.

In his first speech after his release, Mr. Mandela may have taken an orthodox line with a mass audience sympathetic to the African National Congress and might in private discussions eshow greater flexibility on the question of discussions that the Government wants to have with blacks, who are 28 million of the population, compared with the 5 million whites of the ruling minority. He said he was only making some preliminary comments following his release, and would have more to say ''after I have had the opportunity to consult with my comrades.'' By this he meant the leaders of the African National Congress now in exile in Zambia as well as colleagues still based in South Africa. But he appeared to discourage any leading role for himself, such as the Government has in mind, saying, ''A leader of the movement is a person who has been democratically elected at a national conference.''

President de Klerk has invited black leaders to join talks leading to the formulation of a new constitution that would let black South Africans take part at last in their nation's politics.Mr. Mandela acknowledged to the crowd that he had conducted a dialogue with the Government during his last years in prison. But he added: ''My talks with the Government have been aimed at normalizing the political situation in the country. We have not yet begun discussing the basic demands of our struggle. I wish to stress that I myself have at no time entered into negotiations about the future of our country, except to insist on a meeting between the A.N.C. and the Government,'' he said. He described Mr. de Klerk, whom he has met twice since December, as ''a man of integrity. Mr. de Klerk has gone further than any other Nationalist President in taking real steps to normalize the situation,'' Mr. Mandela said. ''But as an organization we base our policy and strategy and tactics on the harsh reality we are faced with,'' he said. ''And this reality is that we are still suffering under the policies of the Nationalist Government.''

The National Party, which Mr. de Klerk now leads, instituted apartheid after taking power in 1948. Mr. Mandela said the Government had to take further steps before negotiations could begin. As a prerequisite for negotiations, he reiterated two demands that he had conveyed from prison through recent visitors. These are are the lifting of the state of emergency, which was imposed in June 1986, and the release of all political prisoners, including those accused of crimes committed in the struggle against apartheid. ''Only such a normalized situation which allows for free political activity can allow us to consult our people in order to obtain a mandate,'' Mr. Mandela said. He said the people had to be consulted about who would represent them in talks with the Government. ''Negotiations cannot take place above the heads or behind the backs of our people,'' he said. ''It is our belief that the future of our country can only be determined by a body which is democratically elected on a nonracial basis.''

Mr. Mandela appeared to allude to a formula under which a constituent assembly, in effect supplanting the existing Parliament, would draft a new constitution. Such a plan would mean the creation of an interim government in South Africa and has previously been rejected by Mr. de Klerk for the foreseeable future. Mr. Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Prison near Paarl at 4:15 P.M., 75 minutes later than the release time announced Saturday afternoon by Mr. de Klerk. Acquaintances of the Mandela family said his departure from the prison was delayed by family discussions. He was greeted by about 5,000 supporters lining the asphalt road outside the prison farm where he has been held since December 1988. Some waved the black, green and yellow flags of the African National Congress, from which Mr. de Klerk removed a ban on Feb. 2. Mr. Mandela was then driven 40 miles from Paarl to Cape Town, passing several hundred people who had parked by the roadside or waited on overpasses in hope of seeing him. They held homemade signs, some of which read simply, ''Welcome home.'' A huge crowd, which organizers said reached 250,000 people, assembled in the square in front of the old City Hall in Cape Town to greet Mr. Mandela. Reporters covering the rally put the crowd's size at only 50,000 people at its peak. They became impatient and sometimes unruly, waiting up to six hours in the hot sun and had dwindled to about 20,000 by sunset, when Mr. Mandela finally appeared.

In the 1950's it was Government policy to prevent blacks from settling in the Western Cape, so they are not in the clear majority in Cape Town, where Mr. Mandela was released. People of mixed race, known as ''coloreds,'' are the largest population group in Cape Town, where whites also outnumber blacks. Blacks, who account for nearly 75 percent of the population in the country as a whole, are in the overwhelming majority in the Johannesburg region, where Mr. Mandela can expect his most tumultuous welcome.

The festive occasion was marred by violence after some youths who had been drinking on the fringes of the rally started breaking windows and looting shops in downtown Cape Town. The police tried to disperse them by firing shotguns and tear gas, and some of the youths retaliated by throwing bottles and stones. At one point, drunken protesters invaded a Chinese restaurant, snatched up the liquor and wine and threw bottles at the police from the rooftop. One man in the crowd was also injured in a knife fight.

The South African Press Association reported tonight that 2 people had been killed and 13 wounded in the confrontations. A physician treating casualties on the scene estimated that 100 people had been wounded, mostly by buckshot. Most suffered only light injuries, including three journalists covering the rally. Cheryl Carolus, a spokeswoman for the United Democratic Front, which helped organize the rally, attributed the violence to outsiders who, she said, were ''beyond our usual crowds, or who supported the rival Pan-Africanist Movement.''' At times, some supporters at the rally had to scramble for cover as the police chased or fired at looters and stone-throwers. The Rev. Allan Boesak, a prominent figure in the anti-apartheid movement, pleaded for more than 45 minutes with the crowd to maintain discipline and move back.

Dullah Omar, a lawyer representing the Mandela family, said Mr. Mandela had been unaware of the violence. This evening, Mr. Mandela failed to appear at a news conference arranged by the reception committee that is handling his schedule. A representative said Mr. Mandela would meet the press later this week in Johannesburg. Mr. Mandela and his wife, Winnie, are expected to fly to Johannesburg on Monday and proceed to their home in the black township of Soweto. One of the organizers, Saki Mocozoma, said security considerations precluded him from revealing where the Mandelas were spending their first night.

Mr. Mandela also paid tribute to his wife, who has lived apart from him for more than 27 years, and their children. ''I am convinced that your pain and suffering was far greater than my own,'' he told them.

Source: New York Times

SOUTH AFRICA'S NEW ERA; SOUTH AFRICA'S PRESIDENT ENDS 30-YEAR BAN ON MANDELA GROUP; SAYS IT IS TIME FOR NEGOTIATION

President F. W. de Klerk today lifted a 30-year ban on the African National Congress, the movement that has been fighting to bring down white minority rule in South Africa, and promised that Nelson Mandela, who has been imprisoned for nearly 28 years, would be freed soon. The moves were disclosed in a package of sweeping changes that Mr. de Klerk announced in a speech at the opening of Parliament today. Mr. de Klerk's program, which went beyond what virtually all his critics expected, appeared intended to clear the way for negotiating the country's future with his strongest black opponents, and also to put the onus for the next move on the opposition.

The African National Congress followed a policy of nonviolent resistance to white rule for decades before it was declared illegal in 1960. Thereafter, it organized a military force in exile and waged a campaign of bombings with underground operatives inside South Africa. Although the group was banned, its influence continued to grow in recent years, to the point that not only black leaders from inside South Africa but white business executives and politicians began flying regularly to Lusaka, Zambia, to meet with its exiled leaders. By legitimizing the movement's role in South African political life, President de Klerk appeared to be seeking an end to the era of violent confrontation. But he left uncertain the distance he was prepared to travel toward the movement's goals of ending white dominance and dismantling the legal structure of apartheid.''Hostile postures have to be replaced by cooperative ones, confrontation by contact, disengagement by engagement, slogans by deliberate debate,'' Mr. de Klerk told Parliament in calling for the Government's opponents to join the negotiations he has proposed. ''The season of violence is over,'' the President said. ''The time for reconstruction and reconciliation has arrived.''

Thousands of people took to the streets of major cities to cheer the announcement and call for more change. The demonstration here concluded peacefully, but in Johannesburg, police officers acting under regulations that remain in force broke up a march into the city center with tear gas and night sticks. Prominent critics of apartheid praised Mr. de Klerk's move, although they stressed the need for more concessions by the Government. But Mr. de Klerk's announcement was criticized by the country's most prominent right-wing white leader, who called for new elections.

Mr. de Klerk promised that Mr. Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress who is a hero to much of the country's black majority, would be freed soon but declined to say when. His release has been seen by Pretoria's opponents at home and abroad as a major test of Mr. de Klerk's intentions to move away from apartheid, the system of racial segregation and white domination. ''I wish to put it plainly that the Government has taken a firm decision to release Mr. Mandela unconditionally,'' Mr. de Klerk said. ''I am serious about bringing this matter to finality without delay. The Government will take a decision soon on the date of his release. Unfortunately, a further short passage of time is unavoidable.'' Mr. de Klerk attributed the postponement of Mr. Mandela's freedom to ''factors in the way of his immediate release, of which his personal circumstances and safety are not the least.'' The President, as well as other Government ministers, refused to explain further. But Stoffel van der Merwe, Minister of Development Aid and Education, which encompasses the education of blacks, briefed reporters on Mr. de Klerk's speech today and told them that ''I don't think we will see Christmas with Mr. Mandela in jail.'' Others informed about the Government's thinking expect Mr. Mandela's release to come within weeks, if not days.

The 71-year-old anti-apartheid leader, who is living on a prison farm outside Cape Town, has been quoted by recent visitors as demanding that the Government improve the political climate before he leaves prison. The conditions mentioned included the legalization of the African National Congress, the release of political detainees, the lifting of the national state of emergency decree and an end to political trials and executions.

Mr. de Klerk appeared to cover most of those demands as he repeated his willingness to discuss a new constitution that would give political rights to the black majority without forcing the white minority to relinquish power. ''With the steps the Government has taken, it has proven its good faith and the table is laid for sensible leaders to begin talking about a new dispensation, to reach an understanding by way of dialogue and discussion,'' Mr. de Klerk said. The other changes announced by Mr. de Klerk included these:

* Emergency regulations curtailing the freedom of press will be repealed, except for unspecified conditions limiting photographic and television coverage of racial unrest.

* Restrictions on 33 organizations whose activities were curtailed under the national state of emergency decree will be lifted.

* Restrictions on the movements and contacts of 374 people released from detention are to be lifted and the regulations hampering their freedom are to be abolished.

* Political detentions will be limited to six months, and detainees will have the right to legal representation and a doctor of their choice.

Opponents of apartheid have estimated that 30,000 people have been detained since the national state of emergency decree was imposed in June 1986, and many of those were held indefinitely without access to a lawyer or doctor. In addition to the African National Congress, the most prominent groups whose activities will no longer be restricted are the South African Communist Party, a longtime ally of Mr. Mandela's group, and a rival, the Pan-Africanist Congress, which places greater stress on the role of black leadership in the anti-apartheid struggle.

The list also includes the United Democratic Front, a coalition of anti-apartheid parties, the South African National Students Congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, a labor federation active in the struggle against apartheid, the National Education Crisis Committee, and the White Freedom Movement, a right-wing paramilitary group promoting white racial supremacy, which was banned in December 1989.

Mr. de Klerk acknowledged that the national state of emergency regulations remained in force, but said they would now inhibit only those who used chaos and disorder as political weapons. ''It is my intention to terminate the state of emergency as soon as circumstances justify it and I request the cooperation of everybody toward this end,'' the President said. The changes announced today, while probably the most dramatic announced by any South African President in a single speech, leave in place the basic structures of apartheid, including the Population Registration Act, which classifies every South African by race, and the Group Areas Act, which enforces the segregation of neighborhoods. Blacks also remain largely excluded from the political process.

The country is governed by a three-chamber Parliament, representing whites, Asians and people of mixed race, and a President elected by the legislators. Blacks, who represent about 75 percent of the total population of 38.5 million, have no representation. But Mr. de Klerk said the Separate Amenities Act, which has allowed municipal officials to bar blacks from publicly owned centers, installations and facilities, would be repealed by Parliament in its current session, as he had promised late last year. Mr. de Klerk further announced that the Government would confine the use of the death penalty to what he called ''extreme cases,'' in part by allowing judges greater discretion in imposing it. ''The net of extenuating circumstances will be substantally increased,'' Foreign Minister Roelof F. Botha, a confidant of Mr. de Klerk, told reporters. Under current South African law, a judge is required to sentence a defendent to hang if the defendant is convicted of a capital crime.

Critics of apartheid have viewed the death penalty as an instrument of repression, because blacks account for most condemned prisoners and because capital punishment has been applied in politically motivated crimes. Mr. de Klerk said those sentenced to death would automatically be granted the right to appeal their sentences, which is now at the judge's discretion. Those changes, he said, would be extended to those currently on death row. ''Therefore, all executions have been suspended and no executions will take place until Parliament has taken a final decision on the new proposals.'' he said. ''In the event of the proposals being adopted, the case of every person involved will be dealt with in accordance with the new guidelines.''

Taken altogether, the changes announced by Mr. de Klerk amount to a significant reconsideration of the Government's policy toward dissent, because they appear to address most of the complaints by the anti-apartheid movement about Government repression. Prominent members of the anti-apartheid movement reacted with optimism tempered by caution. They attributed the changes to the domestic and international pressure applied against Pretoria, not to Mr. de Klerk's boldness.

At a news conference called here by the United Democratic Front, its publicity secretary, Patrick Lekota, said Mr. de Klerk's speech showed that international sanctions against South Africa worked and that the measures should be maintained and intensified. ''To lift sanctions now will be to run the risk of aborting the process toward democracy,'' Mr. Lekota said. But Dr. Andries P. Treurnicht, leader of the right-wing Conservative Party in Parliament, called Mr. de Klerk's speech shocking. He demanded that Mr. de Klerk, whose National Party was returned to power last September, hold a new election to see how much support whites would give him now.

The regulations enacting most of the changes, which take effect immediately, are to be published in the Government Gazette beginning tomorrow. Mr. van der Merwe said the Government had not set any conditions on the legalization of the African National Congress, which has been outlawed since 1960, or on its resumption of political activity. He also said members of the organization living in exile could return home without fear of punishment, as long as they had not been charged with criminal offenses. And he said members held in South African jails for illegal political activity, though not crimes, would be released.

Source: New York Times

Death in Detention

According to the South African Police, Clayton Sizwe Sithole was found hanging by a belt and shoelaces from a water pipe in the shower soon after he had been heard joking with a policeman who had locked him in his cell. It remains unexplained where he got the shoelaces.

Source: Sunday Times Heritage Project

Masses of Liberian Refugees Flee Rebellion and Reprisal Killings

In hospital wards here, a bedraggled and stunned group of refugees from Liberia are struggling to sort out the reasons behind the outburst of violence that has led to hundreds of deaths there. "I heard gunshots, and I thought they were still celebrating Christmas," recalled Peter L. Zayzay, a 36-year old shop owner from Butuo, Liberia. "Then the next thing I knew, several men were running after me, trying to cut off my head." The men, wielding machetes, struck him repeatedly on the head and neck. Trying to fend off their blows, Mr. Zayzay lost three fingers on his right hand. "I don't know why this happened," he said. "They didn't even know me."

The killings began late in December when guerrillas opposed to Liberia's leader, Gen. Samuel K. Doe, entered the Liberian border town of Butuo in Nimba County. The Liberian Government then sent troops and provincial policemen to oust them. "The army started shooting and hacking at anyone they thought was a rebel," a Western diplomat said. "They didn't care if they were civilians or not. From all accounts, they were committing real atrocities." Two American military officers were sent to the Nimba region as observers this week after reports of the attacks on civilians. It was not clear whether they were there at the request of the Liberian Government.

A few miles from here, in Selleu, anguished and grisly reports were given by families huddled in a cluster in the cluttered courtyard of a village near the Liberian frontier. Some had been beaten and allowed to escape with only the clothes on their backs. They talked in frightened whispers of seeing friends and relatives clubbed or hacked to death by mobs. Mindo Paye said she, her husband and four children were asleep last Monday when the shooting began. Her oldest son ran to the door and was shot to death, as was her husband. Her 11-year-old daughter was badly wounded in the leg. "They just shot us like animals," she kept saying, hugging herself and shaking from side to side.

Another Liberian refugee, Samuel Paye, 22 years old, was hit with a hand grenade, which tore a wound in his thigh. He said his father, mother and grandfather were among at least 40 people killed during an attack in the border town of Loguato. In interviews on the Ivory Coast side of the border, many refugees reported that the border villages from which they fled - notably Kahnplay, Butuo and Lepulah - had been destroyed in the fighting. Soldiers were said to have burned and looted the dwellings.

The refugees said the shooting had been carried out by men dressed in Liberian Army uniforms. None of the victims was able to explain why he was being targeted for persecution. But human rights observers, among them people from Amnesty International and Africa Watch, based in London and Washington respectively, said they had received reports of an indiscrimate shoot-to-kill policy ordered by General Doe against anyone "engaged in suspicious activities."

The rebels, according to some reports, then went on an avenging rampage south into Krahn territory, General Doe's tribal and political base, attacking soldiers and slaughtering unarmed civilians there. The guerrillas, mostly members of the Gio tribe, were said to be led by Charles Taylor, a former Doe Cabinet minister who fell into disfavor and fled the country after being charged with corruption.

The dimensions of the violence by both sides may never be known, in part because Liberia has sought to sever contacts with reporters and with outside groups that are not likely to favor the Government. Diplomats and international relief workers, however, estimate that at least 500 civilians have been killed. More ominously, African and Western diplomats say, the Liberian Government has yet to clamp down hard on soldiers involved in the campaign of killing and terror. Reports of continued fighting along the border have touched off fears that the region is on the brink of prolonged civil strife.

So far, at least 70,000 Liberians have fled across the eastern frontier to escape the bloodshed and most of them have settled in the heavily forested hills of this remote corner of the Ivory Coast. The thinly populated ridges of green bush are lush with coconut palms, bamboo and wild banana trees, and the mist that settles in the valleys makes the mornings serene and idyllic. For now, however, the region's tranquillity has been vanquished by the grim influx of Liberian refugees, many of whom need food and immediate medical help. Relief workers say that some of the small villages near the border, like Binta and Selleu, have increased in population more than tenfold since the beginning of the year.

The Liberian nation is, in a sense, the result of an earlier attempt to accommodate ethnic rivalries. Modern Liberia was founded in 1822 by slaves freed in the United States with the aid of President James Monroe and money from Congress to buy land from local chiefs for the settlers. In 1847, the country became Africa's first independent republic. Soon afterward, a glaring gap opened between the former slaves and the original residents of the country they created. The black settlers evolved into colonists who classified the indigenous African majority as "aborigines" and disenfranchised them, making the right to vote contingent on property ownership. Resentment against the American-Liberian elite simmered for decades, and in 1980, it boiled over when Master Sargeant Doe, a member of the Krahn tribe, seized power. A few days later, 13 former Government officials were tied to telephone poles on a beach and executed by a firing squad.

In recent years, sporadic violence has erupted, particularly in the eastern region. In 1985, opposition leaders charged that Government troops, many of them from the Krahn tribe, killed more than 1,000 Liberians mostly from the Gio and Mano tribes, in reprisal for suspected involvement in a coup attempt or for sympathy with rebel forces. The Government denied that there had been any executions. Earlier this week, President Doe warned that soldiers who harmed unarmed civilians would face firing squads. He said, however, that it has been difficult for soldiers to identify rebels because they were dressed in civilian clothes.

For refugees like Mr. Zayzay, who fled with only the clothes on his back and little prospect that he can return soon, there is little consolation in such promises. "I lost everything," he said. "I don't even know where to begin to pick up my life."

Source: New York Times