Liberian militias hold off rebels from capital

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Militias loyal to Liberian President Charles Taylor held off a rebel assault on Monrovia Sunday, pushing the invaders back from the two main bridges into the capital during a day of sporadic but fierce fighting.

Government forces, who had retreated steadily before a rebel advance Saturday, made the most of the cover provided by the concrete landscape of Monrovia's mildewed downtown, which overlooks the strategic bridges. Militia fighters in shorts and T-shirts charged down the spans repeatedly Sunday, firing automatic rifles toward a bank of warehouses until the rebels fell back in early afternoon. The rebels' retreat may have been strategic, however, as they appeared intent on entering the city by another route.

The rebel force, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, is trying to remove Taylor, who has been indicted by a U.N.-backed court for war crimes related to adventurism in neighboring countries. Taylor has promised to step down, but not before a peacekeeping force arrives from other African states, and perhaps from the United States. But on Saturday the Liberian president vowed to "fight to the last man" for the capital.

President Bush has promised U.S. involvement in a "stabilization force" for the country but has not said whether that will include combat troops. Blaming the delay of peacekeepers' arrival for the fighting, Taylor declared: "I say to the United States, blood is also on your hands."

At least 120 civilians have been wounded in two days of fighting, according to aid agencies operating heath facilities in just one area of town. Most of the injured had shrapnel wounds from the mortars that fell across the city until this afternoon.

No organization claimed to know the death toll, though hundreds of people were killed in Monrovia during two previous rebel offensives last month.

Mortars rained for part of a second day onto the diplomatic neighborhood dominated by the sprawling U.S. Embassy, which Liberians continue to regard as a refuge. Thousands found shelter in the embassy's former resiential compound, despite its vulnerability to shelling, which killed 21 there during an attack last month.

Refuge in the nearby embassy compound itself was restricted to foreign nationals, including international television crews.

U.S. Marines stood guard on roofs inside the compound. A team of 32 members of the U.S. military that arrived two weeks ago to report on the situation on the ground was hunkered down behind the embassy's reinforced concrete walls.

Monrovia, which in years of civil wars has proved notoriously difficult for rebels to take, is built on a peninsula defined by lagoons and the Atlantic Ocean. Its north-facing flank is abutted by Bushrod Island, named for a nephew of George Washington who played a leading role in creating this republic settled by freed American slaves.

The bridges leading from Bushrod directly into downtown present the most direct access to the capital for any force attacking from the north, as LURD did on Saturday. But as the rebels learned, that approach also leaves attackers exposed to defensive fire from the city center's higher ground.

When one part of the rebel force at the bridge fell back, however, another group of rebels pushed to the east, according to witnesses. The second rebel force fought its way more than a mile down a highway that eventually circles around to the base of the capital peninsula, which could be cut off from the south. If the second group of rebels is successful, Taylor and his forces would be bottled up.

'A double-push'

Liberian Defense Minister Daniel Chea claimed Sunday night that government militias had halted LURD's sprint and was preparing to push them toward the group turned back at the bridges.

"We are hoping to do a double-push," Chea said.

Each side accused the other of starting the fighting. LURD said Taylor tried to push into rebel territory in order to bury his mother, who died last month, in her home village, which is customary in most of Africa.

Chea denied this, but was also agitated by rumors that she had been laid to rest over the weekend at Taylor's Monrovia residence.

"That's the mother of the president," the defense minister said. "We are going to push LURD from out of Monrovia and we are going to bury the president's mother in grand style, I'll tell you that."