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
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