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| Africa: West |
| Liberian President Yet Again Renews Pledge to Quit |
| 2003-07-27 |
| EFL. MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - President Charles Taylor urged international peacekeepers Saturday to hurry to Liberia and renewed pledges to step down when they arrive, as shelling brought new carnage to the capital’s trapped people. Taylor’s promise - which he has reneged on before - came hours after a mortar round slammed into a church harboring thousands of refugees, killing at least three and wounding 55 others. The explosion at Monrovia’s Great Refuge Temple marked the second time in two days that deadly shells have hit public buildings crowded with refugees in this city of 1 million people. President Bush, who has ordered U.S. troops to Liberia’s coast to support a promised West African peace force, repeatedly has demanded that former warlord Taylor cede power as part of any peace deal. ``Let nobody have any concern about, ’Will President Taylor step down?’’’ Taylor told a prayer rally in Monrovia’s leading sports stadium, packed with 30,000 refugees. ``I will step down.’’ "No, really! This time I mean it!" In his first comments since Bush’s deployment order, Taylor said, ``The presence of peacekeepers in this country is extremely necessary to redeem us and save ``I hope they can come sooner, and not later.’’ One day after you leave. How’s that? He also insisted Monrovia was safer with him than without him, at least until peacekeepers arrive. ``If I were not here, there would be bodies Right about where Chuckles will end up. At least hundreds of civilians have died in a week-old rebel assault on Monrovia, the latest round in insurgents’ two-month battle to take the city and topple Taylor, who faces U.N. war crimes charges in neighboring Sierra Leone and is blamed for 14 years of fighting in his own country. Taylor claimed Saturday that 1,000 people had been killed. Also Saturday, Defense Minister Daniel Chea accused a smaller rebel faction of attacking government positions in southeastern Liberia. Chea said the attacks began three days ago and rebel fighters were within 30 miles of Buchanan, a city packed with refugees fleeing the rebel assault on Monrovia. ``Terrible, terrible, this war,’’ said Konah Macgee, whose uncle was killed in the barrage [on the church]. ``Our people are just dying day and night. Rockets are falling. Innocent people are dying.’’ After weeks of hoping for rescue, Monrovia’s people reacted with disbelief, even bitterness, at news that Bush ordered deployment of U.S. troops to Liberia’s coast. Bush, who has made any troop deployment contingent on Taylor stepping down, said Americans would have only a limited role in what will be a West African-led peace force. The force’s planners have yet to announce a firm deployment date. ``You see, everybody looking to George W. Bush,’’ Monrovia resident Bill Jacobs said. ``But I think it’s only God can solve our problem right now. Because we have to depend on Bush for a long time, man.’’ How ’bout you doing some of the heavy lifting yourself, Bill? Meanwhile, spiritual and government leaders declared Saturday a day of prayerful fasting - a move bitterly resented by many ordinary people struggling to survive in the besieged, disease-ridden and hungry city. ``Everybody is already fasting, because there is no food,’’ said Boaki Kiate, who has lived for two months in the squalid sports stadium, where refugees have been sleeping on the concrete floors of old locker rooms and corridors. Ragged refugees largely ignored the finely dressed, 5,000-strong crowd gathered in the bleachers above to hear Taylor. He apologized for the suffering of refugees at the stadium but took no responsibility for it. "It’s not my fault! Nothing’s my fault!" |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 wow...Kerry was in Viet Nam? I hadn't heard that....today Oh wait, there he is on CNN...yep, you're right |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-7-27 12:58:26 PM |
| #4 I wonder... by the time it's all said & done, which will have occured more frequently - Chuck Taylor's 'I'm stepping down' announcements or John Kerry mentioning his Vietnam credentials? |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-7-27 12:03:24 PM |
| #3 You'd think he was waiting for the US troops to save his ass or somethin'.....hey...wait a minute... I bet he's not telling the truth about leaving. Ya think? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-7-27 11:02:22 AM |
| #2 I mean, really... |
| Posted by: seafarious 2003-7-27 2:17:34 AM |
| #1 But, this time Chuck really, really, really means it! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-7-27 12:48:00 AM |