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Bush asks Taylor to step down

Charles Taylor

MONROVIA (Liberia) June 27. Rocket barrages and mortars pounded the port of Liberia's capital on Friday, and President Charles Taylor's lawless Government forces roamed house-to-house under the bombardment — robbing desperate families trapped in the four-day-old rebel siege of the city.

The Government paused in the defence of the capital long enough to make a studiedly restrained response to the U.S. President, George W. Bush's call on Thursday for Mr. Taylor to step down. Liberia urged the U.S. to ``remain proactive in the peace process'' and made no direct mention of Mr. Bush's key request.

Monrovia's mortuaries filled as the death toll climbed into the high hundreds, leaving civilians to hastily bury the dead — family members, and strangers found on the streets — on the city's Atlantic Ocean beaches, at times with rockets slamming into the sand around them.

With the city's food stocks tied up in the embattled port, rice, flour and other staples tripled in price — if they could be found at all. Hunger and disease grew in the city of 1 million, swelled by hundreds of thousands more refugees living in school yards, the national soccer stadium and the city's once-grand Masonic temple. ``Only God almighty can rescue us from this nightmare,'' said Romeo Smith (22), stretched out, hands folded, on the pavement against a light pole on the spot where he used to sell bread — until flour ran out. West African mediators had Liberia's rebels and Government under a seemingly toothless ultimatum — return to a June 17 cease-fire by 10 a.m. local time on Friday, or see month-old peace talks in nearby Ghana formally end. Fighting only intensified as the deadline neared, then passed — with both sides apparently trying to secure the port, and its warehouses full of food, ahead of honouring any cease-fire. Rebel political leaders declared a new truce at midday, without any lessening of bombardment and small-arms fire on the ground.

Ahead of any real cease-fire, soldiers in pickup trucks rushed to reclaim the northwest neighbourhood of Doala, site of the city's brewery, already fallen into rebel hands. ``We are fighting to liberate Doala in general, the beer factory in particular,'' one soldier said.— AP

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