WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday.October 23.1992
7
Fighting in Liberia escalates
Peacekeepers fire on rebels attacking country's capital
The Associated Press
MONROVIA, Liberia — West African peacekeepers fired artillery barrages at rebels attacking Liberia's capital yesterday, and their warplanes reportedly bombed the rebels' headquarters in the interior.
The air raid on the base of rebel leader Charles Taylor could signal all-on-war between the 7,000-person peace-keeping force and the rebels.
The action came after a week of escalating fighting around Monrovia. The seven nations that have provided weapons to Al Qaeda, including in reef installations and weapons.
Commanders of the West African force could not be contacted for comment yesterday. Regular communications in the city have been disrupted by the fighting. Taylor has issued no statements.
The fighting has driven an estimated
100,000 refugees into Monrovia. Red Cross sources said most of the refugees found shelter with families or friends. Food does not appear to be an immediate problem, but water is short because Taylor's rebels cut off water to the city during the weekend.
No overall figures were available on casualties, Taylor said earlier that jet attacks had killed hundreds of people, and relief agencies reported many wounded.
Senegal, one of the seven countries participating in the task force, reported two of its soldiers killed. Witnesses said several civilians and peacekeepers were killed when a warplane strafed them in an apparent mustaken attempt to hit arab target.
The stepped-up fighting was likely to strain the alliance of West African nations that sent the intervention force into Monrovia in August 1990 to stop a bloody civil war that had degenerated into tribal violence. More than 15,000 people were killed before the force imposed a cease-fire in November 1990.
ignored agreements to disarm so elections could be held, and fighting has grown in recent weeks.
Taylor's force, which controls most of the country, and rival factions
The interventio force apparently has allowed Taylor's rivals to rearm. Fighters of the United Movement for the Liberation of Liberia and the Armed Forces of Liberia, the latter made up of remnants of slain President Samuel Doe's army, were patrolling the Doe's army, were patrolling the capital yesterday.
The U.S. Embassy hoped to fly out 47 non-essential diplomatic personnel yesterday. An attempt to evacuate them Tuesday was canceled following reports that shooting had broken out near the airport.
In New York, U.N. representative Joe Sills said the United Nations had evacuated 25 non-essential staff people on Monday. He said 20 staff members remained, but he expected more to leave soon.
The peacekeepers blamed Taylor for starting the week-old surge in fighting. The rebels blamed the West African force.
It is difficult to estimate Taylor's strength. He is believed to have more
Liberian capital attacked
Knight-Ridder Tribune
than 10,000 fighters, but many are untrained.
Taylor's men advanced in some areas around the capital in the past week. They overran the base of a rival, Prince Johnson, shortly after Taylor announced the two had signed a pact to cooperate.
Search for weapons in Baghdad continues
The Associated Press
BAGHAD, Iraq — U.N. inspectors are visiting sugar mills, rummaging through junk piles and walking through underground tunnels searching for weapons that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein may be hiding.
Iraq says it has no more weapons of mass destruction — such as ballistic missiles or chemical bombs — but Western intelligence reports say otherwise. Baghdad's previous claims about its arsenal, such as the denial it was working on nuclear weapons, have been shown false by earlier U.N. inspections.
"We are going everywhere to make sure that weapons of mass destruction are discovered," said Nikita Smitsovich, the Russian leader of the latest U.N. team to hunt for Iraqi weapons.
The team is the largest yet to visit Iraq under terms of the Gulf War cause-fire, which require Iraq to destroy its long-range missiles and
chemical weapons and dismantle its nuclear and biological weapons programs.
Tensions were high before the team arrived a week ago. Iraqi officials and news media sharply criticized the visit, contending the inspectors might provoke an incident before the U.S.elections to help President Bush's re-election campaign. But the inspectors have not reported any confrontations.
"the operation is unique, a very delicate task," said Kevin St. Louis, a U.S. citizen who is the chief field officer for the U.N. weapons program. "The world may not see an operation like this again. I hope."
Many of Iraq's surface-to-surface missiles were destroyed by allied bombing during the war, and others have been wrecked under U.N. supervision since then. But Iraq is still suspected of having 50 to 200 Scud missiles hidden away, mainly in camouflaged underground shelters.
Israeli official says withdrawal from Golan Heights possible
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Israeli officials said yesterday that they were willing to talk to Syrian officials about an Israel withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
A Palestinian representative called for a similar commitment to yield ground on the West Bank, in Gaza and in Jerusalem.
"We hope there will be a comprehensive commitment on all fronts," Hanan Ashrawi said. But she softened the demand by telling reporters that it was not a precondition to productive negotiations over Palestinian self-rule.
The territorial issue is one of the toughest items facing Arab and Israel negotiators in their slow-moving peace talks. The Arabs' key demand is that Israel give up all the land it took in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel's main quest is from its neighbors.
Until a Labor government took
over last summer, Israel spurned any suggestion it give up land for peace. But in the last round of negotiations, which ended Sept. 24, Israel acknowledged that U.N. Security Council land-for-peace resolutions applied to the Golan Heights.
Israeli negotiator Itamar Rabinovich told reporters yesterday at the State Department, where the talks will be held until Nov. 19, that he would not shy away from using the word withdrawal when appropriate.
This apparent concession was reinforced in Jerusalem by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. At the same time, Rabin stressed that Israel was not prepared to give up all the land on its border with Syria.
Israel surrendered all of the Sinai desert, including its modern airfields and its only oil fields, in return for the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.
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