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
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