Rebel groups agree to withdraw from vital port in Monrovia

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Rebels laying siege to Liberia's capital signed a pledge Tuesday to withdraw from Monrovia's port, allowing food and aid to flow to hundreds of thousands of people starving in the government-held side of the city, the U.S. ambassador said.

The agreement came a day after former President Charles Taylor went into exile after 14 years in power that left Liberia in ruins. But any joy at the ex-warlord's downfall was tempered by hunger in the capital and reports of fresh killings by Liberia's second-biggest rebel group.

Ambassador John Blaney met with rebels at the port, as well as commanders of a West African peacekeeping force and a U.S. Marine expeditionary force, now positioned off Monrovia.

Noon Thursday

The rebels who signed the deal were from the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, the country's main insurgent group. They agreed to pull back from Monrovia by noon Thursday and surrender control to peacekeepers.

Terms of the accord, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, obligate the West African peacekeepers to deploy first throughout Monrovia.

The second-biggest rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia, sprang back into motion in what appeared a bid to get a share of the power, or spoils, in a post-Taylor Liberia. Witnesses reported machete-wielding fighters went on the attack indiscriminately near the airport.

The West African force, still less than 1,000-strong, has ventured only occasionally out of its airport base as it builds to its promised 3,250-member strength.

Rebels said they were still ready to fight and rejected the rule of the new president, Moses Blah. He was appointed Monday as Taylor ceded power and flew to Nigeria.

"The guns will be silent for now, but we will not cooperate politically or diplomatically," rebel official Sekou Fofana said."We will be standing by, ready for any aggression by Charles Taylor's forces."

he told reporters at a rebel command post across a front line river from government fighters.

Rebels have held Monrovia's port since July 19, cutting off aid and food to hundreds of thousands of people. Hunger has built in the capital, with markets offering little but harvested leaves.

"A hungry man is an angry man -- and we're hungry," said Solomon Blamco, 25.

Countless civilians fled through the bush and on the road in pouring rain, escaping attacks that most of them blamed on the Movement for Democracy in Liberia.

"People are coming and killing," said Pauline Johnson, standing in a downpour and clutching an infant to her breast, after running from her home Tuesday without pausing to gather any possessions.

Johnson and others spoke of rebels attacking with machetes, killing men, women and children indiscriminately. One man, who said he was afraid to give his name, said militia were entering homes, killing men of fighting age.

They spoke outside Liberia's main airport, and said the attacks were taking place just a few miles beyond. Monrovia's airport is a 45-minute drive from the capital.

Blaming Taylor

The two rebel groups had fought for Taylor's overthrow -- the larger, based in the north, is widely alleged to be supported by neighboring Guinea. The smaller group emerged only last year, and is believed supported by Ivory Coast, to the east of Liberia.

Both countries blamed Taylor in cross-border attacks that threatened their own stability, and allegedly backed the Liberian rebel groups in a bid to block such insurgencies.

MODEL most recently had engaged government forces at Buchanan, a key southern port and the country's second-largest city.

In Ghana, site of off-and-on peace talks for Liberia, MODEL chairman Tiah Slanger confirmed Tuesday's fighting.

Pushing back

"We were pushing those forces who attack us back, and since they came from the airport area, we had no option but to make sure that we push them back enough," he said.

Peacekeepers had been sent to investigate the attacks, Nigeria's Brig. Gen. Festus Okonkwo said.

The United States, which oversaw Liberia's founding by freed slaves in the 19th century, has provided some logistical support and funding to the West African peace mission. But it has avoided the leading role that many -- including Liberians -- say it has the historical obligation to take on.

Taylor, an ex-warlord and U.N. indicted war criminal, flew into exile in Nigeria on Monday after surrendering his presidency, pressured by the United States and regional leaders, and besieged by a three-year rebel insurgency that had taken most of the country.

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Blah appealed to the U.S. Marines: "Please come to Liberia and save us because we are dying. We are hungry."

President Bush called Taylor's departure "an important step" but gave no hint whether it moved him closer toward deploying more U.S. troops to assist with peacekeeping or humanitarian relief efforts.

Accusing the United States anew of forcing him out, Taylor showed nothing suggesting repentance for launching once-prosperous Liberia into bloodshed in 1989, when as a rebel he led a small insurgency to topple then-President Samuel Doe.

Taylor, a Liberian-born, Boston-educated business student who trained in guerrilla fighting in Libya, faces a U.N.-backed war-crimes indictment for his trafficking with a vicious rebel movement in neighboring Sierra Leone.

Standing U.N. sanctions against him and dozens of associates accuse him of diamond- and arms-trafficking with insurgents in much of West Africa.

Blah is expected to hand power in October to a transition government meant to lead Liberia into elections.