U.S. sending 4,500 troops toward Liberia

Jet, August 11, 2003

President Bush recently sent more Marines in to protect the U.S. Embassy in Liberia, and 4,500 more American sailors and Marines were ordered into positions closer to the west African country.

"We're concerned about our people," Bush said during a press conference.

But he indicated he had not yet decided the size of a force that might be sent to help peacekeepers there.

Liberians have been begging for U.S. help. Rebels are battling to oust President Charles Taylor who launched Liberia, once sub-Saharan Africa's most prosperous country, into 14 years of conflict in 1989.

Rebels said at press time they're seeking a cease-fire. "It takes a couple of days for the fighting to calm down," said a rebel leader, Charles Benney.

Accused of stirring many of West Africa's other conflicts as well, Taylor is sought by an U.N.-backed court in Sierre Leone for alleged war crimes in that country's 10-year civil war.

Taylor and his aides have made repeated announcements since June that Taylor would step down in the interests of peace, only to later hedge on timing or renege entirely.

Recent fighting at press time left hundreds of civilians dead--bodies lying in the streets of the capital city, Monrovia. Battles have cut off the main supplies of water and food, with the port-crowded with warehouses holding food stocks--across the frontline in rebel hands.