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U.N.: Liberia basically destroyed
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- The United Nations' special representative to Liberia has said the country is "basically destroyed" and is in desperate need of international assistance. Speaking at U.N. headquarters in New York, Jacques Klein said the only hope for Liberia was for the world community to quickly step up aid and deploy a peacekeeping force to bring an end to the killing that has ravaged the country over the last week. "In Liberia, now we stand between two options: hope and disaster," Klein said after a closed-door briefing to the Security Council. "Hope that we can quickly move troops in, stop the killing, stabilize the situation. Disaster if nothing is done." Hundreds of civilians have reportedly died over the past week as Liberian rebels fight troops loyal to President Charles Taylor. Welcoming news Nigeria is preparing to send between 700 and 1,000 troops as the first contingent of a West African peacekeeping force, Klein said however that he doubted they would arrive in the promised seven days. He also welcomed the U.S. announcement of $10 million in assistance to the peacekeeping force but said Washington needed to do more to help alleviate the situation. "In the meantime, the humanitarian situation in Monrovia is disastrous," Klein said, adding that U.N. representatives on the ground are performing "heroic efforts" to maintain a level of humanitarian care for the thousands of displaced citizens in the capital. He said people are dying of cholera, dysentery and dehydration, even though large amounts of supplies sit in warehouses there. "We can't get to them," Klein said. "Vehicles are being stolen from humanitarian organizations ... customs officials demand enormous bribes at the airport to bring in medicinal supplies. That's what we have to control." Klein said there was an urgent need for a country to take the lead, to step in and stop the fighting. Once people see one nation come forward, he said, more contributions will start. The Bush administration says it has yet to decide whether it will contribute U.S. troops to the peacekeeping effort. If it does, American forces would likely be limited to logistical support including getting emergency supplies to ground troops. U.S. President George W. Bush has made any deployment of American troops conditional on the departure of Taylor, a former warlord indicted for war crimes in Sierra Leone. Taylor has said he wants peacekeeping to be in place before he leaves. Disease threat
In Liberia itself intense fighting continued Thursday around the port area in the capital, Monrovia, where the rebels have gained control of warehouses holding most of the city's food supply. The United Nations says water and food supplies in the city and across the country are in desperately short supply, adding further to the hardships faced by ordinary Liberians, thousands of whom have been forced from their homes by the fighting. There is still little sign that the rebels are working towards a ceasefire they had promised on Tuesday. Dozens of bodies left by the fighting lie unburied in the streets, adding to the threat of disease with aid workers already warning that the conditions are ripe for outbreaks of cholera.
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