Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 23, 2003
Liberia's Rebels Attack Government Troops
Liberia's government troops on Friday said that rebel forces had launched new attacks on them on the main road linking the capital Monrovia and port city Buchanan.
Liberia's government troops on Friday said that rebel forces had launched new attacks on them on the main road linking the capital Monrovia and port city Buchanan.
Reports reaching here from Monrovia quoted a senior government military officer as saying that rebels of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) launched an attack against the government troops near Van's Town, some 10 km east of the main road.
So far, however, there had been no information on casualties.
The reports said that the Liberian Ministry of Defense would assess the situation and planed to send an assessment mission to the spot.
The US military reportedly had been alerted and was sending a unit to the area.
The United States earlier this month sent around 200 marines to the capital city to provide assistance to the about 1,500 West African peacekeeping troops to police ceasefire in the war-torn West African country.
The Liberian government and two main rebel groups -- Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the MODEL signed a peace accord on Monday to end the 14-years bloody civil war in the country, which claimed at least 200,000 lives and flared up again in 1998 following attacks launched by the LURD.
Civil war over the past decade has made Liberia among the most miserable places in the world and the latest unrest since 1998 has forced some 300,000 Liberians to flee to neighboring countries and left thousands more dead.