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
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