The leader of a powerful militia was airlifted out of Monrovia today to attend peace talks next week in Ghana aimed at ending Liberia's six-year civil war, diplomatic and military officials said. A United States diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militia leader, Roosevelt Johnson, left Monrovia today.
A high-ranking official with the West African peacekeepers here said the troops had slipped Mr. Johnson out of a besieged army barracks, the Barclay Training Center, in a convoy of tanks and armored vehicles and put him on a helicopter to Freetown, Sierra Leone, en route to Ghana.
The United States bolstered its forces at the Embassy to 290 marines, from 230, and three United States warships carrying 2,000 more marines moved within three miles of the coast for the third straight day. The United States Ambassador, William Milam; a United Nations envoy, Anthony Nyakyi, and leaders of the West African peacekeepers said Mr. Johnson had agreed to a cease-fire late Thursday. But by this morning, negotiators had not been able to reach his rival, Charles Taylor, who had insisted that Mr. Johnson surrender before fighting stops.
The standoff between Mr. Taylor and Mr. Johnson ignited the latest fighting, which began April 6.
Source: New York Times
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