THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604210061
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: MONROVIA, LIBERIA LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Four Norfolk-based Navy ships arrived off the coast of Liberia on Saturday, and hundreds of Marines aboard the ships were quickly dispatched to secure the U.S. Embassy and help evacuate foreigners trapped by fighting.
The Norfolk-based ships - the Guam, a helicopter carrier; the Trenton, an amphibious transport ship; the Conolly, a destroyer; and the Portland, a dock landing ship - began turning up off the coast before dawn. The ships were accompanied by the oiler Big Horn.
By 7 a.m., helicopters roared low over Monrovia, the besieged capital, as they began dropping off Marines at the embassy compound, the site of at least one armed conflict against rebels last week.
The Marines are replacing American paratroopers - members of the elite Special Operations forces based in Europe - who have been guarding the embassy for the past week. Of the 1,500 Marines aboard the Norfolk-based ships, only about 200 are expected to be on the ground in the U.S. Embassy, while the others will remain aboard ship a few miles out to sea.
The Marines are from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Evacuations that have carried more than 2,000 people to safety in neighboring Sierra Leone or Senegal continued Saturday as 78 foreigners, mostly Lebanese and Egyptians trapped for nearly two weeks in a besieged army compound, left in American helicopters.
In Washington, the White House announced a U.S. diplomatic team will go to Liberia today to help broker a cease-fire and urge rival warlords to end the violence rocking the capital city.
The United States also is willing to commit an additional $30 million in equipment and training support to West African peacekeeping forces in Monrovia, a statement from the White House press office said.
As African peacekeeping tanks rolled through Monrovia on Saturday morning as part of a new truce, drunken thugs in stolen relief agency vehicles scavenged through the remains of bullet-pocked buildings.
Some guns were still blasting and grenades were still being launched, but most of the firing appeared to be posturing by young men reluctant to give up the streets.
A few residents even seized on the Marines' arrival to try to return to normal life.
Fayah Foyah ventured into the streets for the first time in two weeks, setting up his checkerboard.
``It seems as though there's some sanity, so we have to entertain ourselves somehow,'' he said with a laugh as he placed yellow and green checkers on the homemade board.
The truce reached Friday night between warlord Roosevelt Johnson and rival Charles Taylor, appeared to be holding.
The nearly two-week flare-up to Liberia's 6-year civil war left 60,000 people homeless and ravaged the seaside capital. Dozens of bloated bodies litter the streets, food and medicine are in short supply and health officials say that squalid sanitary conditions have led to at least 110 cholera deaths.
The fighting began after a six-man interim government tried to arrest rebel leader Johnson on murder charges related to cease-fire violations. The battle pitted Johnson's men against those of Taylor, a leading member of the governing council and a rival warlord.
Soldiers loyal to Johnson had barricaded themselves in the Barclay Training Center, an army compound, to fend off assaults by competing factions.
Late Friday, after the cease-fire began, about 10,000 Liberian civilians trapped in the compound were freed.
An additional 37 African peacekeeping soldiers held hostage at the compound were expected to be freed by Johnson's men later.
The White House said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William Twaddell will lead the U.S. diplomatic team, which will include representatives from the State Department, the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The team will work with U.S. Ambassador William Milam and a peacekeeping delegation from Ghana to negotiate ``an end to the recent fighting and put the peace process back on track,'' the statement said.
The United States wants Liberian soldiers to give up their hold over the Barclay Training Center. Faction leaders will be urged to allow humanitarian assistance into Monrovia and adhere to a peace accord reached in August that set up a transitional government, the White House statement said.
``U.S. envoys will stress we will not support any government that comes to power by force in Liberia,'' it said. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press.
by CNB