Rebels and government forces battled with guns and grenades at Monrovia's strategic port yesterday, while West African leaders insisted they were speeding the first peacekeepers to stop fighting in the refugee-crowded capital.
Despite the duels at the port and sporadic explosions and gunfire through the night, rebels said they were putting in place a cease-fire they had promised since Tuesday.
"It takes a couple days for the fighting to calm down," a rebel leader, Charles Benney, said by telephone.
"We don't want to take the country by force. We want to do it by negotiated settlement ... a military takeover isn't in anyone's interest," said Benney, member of a three-year rebel campaign that has pushed President Charles Taylor into a last stronghold, Monrovia's besieged, densely populated downtown area.
Fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of civilians, leaving bodies lying in the streets and aid workers burying other corpses on the city's beaches. Battles have cut off the main supplies of water and food, with the port -- crowded with warehouses holding foodstocks -- across the front-line in rebel hands.
With combat comparatively lighter yesterday, residents ran out in search of food -- only to find markets, normally stocked with wares from the port, virtually empty.
Government commanders on the ground have spoken of a major government counteroffensive to retake the port ahead of the arrival of Nigerian peacekeepers, which could freeze each side in their current positions.
Defense Minister Daniel Chea denied any such plans yesterday.
"No. We're only defending our lives and our people," Chea said by telephone from the port area, with sounds of battle raging in the background.
Of the promised deployment of peacekeepers, Chea said, "We've been waiting the arrival ... a long time now. When we see them, we will believe."
West African leaders on Wed-nesday announced they would send two Nigerian battalions, up to 1,300 men in all, to Liberia in days, the vanguard of what West Africans said should be a 3,250-member peace force to separate Liberia's warring sides.
The US has yet to say whether it will contribute to the force for Liberia, a major African Cold War ally. Many European, UN and African leaders have urged the US to participate.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, executive secretary of West Africa's leading regional bloc, renewed promises yesterday that the first Nigerian peacekeepers would arrive "within a week. Absolutely."
Deployment commander Brigadier General Fidelis Okonkwo's "task is to move the battalion to Monrovia as quickly as possible. If before, fine, but not beyond a week," Chambas said.
"As you know, we've already lost too much time," he said.
The first Nigerian battalion would come from Sierra Leone, detaching from a major UN peace deployment in that country. A second battalion would come from Nigeria itself.
Lieutenant General Martin Luther Agwai, Nigeria's army chief of staff, landed at Sierra Leone's international airport yesterday.
Chambas said Agwai was to meet with officials from the US European Command, the UN and West Africa on deployment of the Nigerians.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique