Liberian rebels declared their second ceasefire in 10 days on Friday as forces loyal to President Charles Taylor pushed them beyond the capital's limits over a bloody trail of bodies and wreckage.
This week's battle for Monrovia left hundreds dead and turned up the heat on former warlord Taylor, who was told by US President George W. Bush on Thursday to step down and end a war that has spread turmoil through West Africa.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Thousands of people thronged the battered streets of the coastal city after the ceasefire was announced.
"We want peace, no more war," they chanted to Taylor, who drove by at the wheel of his black jeep giving a "V" sign that in Liberia stands for peace as well as victory.
Rebels retreated from the port area after a last overnight push and were forced beyond the city limits for the second time in two days. Here and there the dead lay unburied amid the lingering stench of burning.
Just how close the rebels came was evident from the carpet of bullets and spent ammunition casings at both ends of the bridge on the threshold of the city center.
Rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) said in a statement their ceasefire would let through aid to civilians and "avoid a grotesque humanitarian catastrophe."
It was the second ceasefire in 10 days that witnessed the heaviest fighting in Monrovia since a civil war in the 1990s.
"We hope the ceasefire will hold. My desire is for peace to come. People are dying and people are suffering," said a Taylor commander who gave his name as General Desert Fox.
The rebels have been under foreign pressure to stop fighting or risk losing all credibility in their war against Taylor, who is under UN sanctions and wanted by an international court for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone.
Stop-start peace talks to end 14 years of almost non-stop war were adjourned for a week in Ghana because of the fighting but a West African mediator said on Friday rebel and government delegates had vowed to respect the fledgling truce.
"We need a ceasefire. We need this process back on track," Taylor told Liberians in a national address. "As for the government, we are going to do our part to make sure that the bargain is followed."
Fears of a bloodbath in Monrovia have drawn fresh calls for US intervention in a country founded over 150 years ago by freed American slaves, but officials in Washington said there was no plan to send a peacekeeping force.
Outside the heavily fortified US Embassy, hundreds of desperate people waving palm leaf symbols of peace chanted for help to preserve the latest ceasefire.
"America should come and help us now. Liberia's closest friend is America," said one woman called Judy. "They intervened in Iraq. Why can't they intervene here?"
Bush told Taylor he should step down to end the bloodshed, but many Liberians want more from a country they see as their true motherland. Even Taylor asked for help on Friday.
"We ask the international community, especially the US, to do everything within its power to help Liberia and Liberians out of this mess," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people have poured into Monrovia's center since the fighting began. Aid agencies are struggling to cope with war wounds and diseases without clean water or power.
Authorities say that about 300 civilians have been killed in this week's attack, and some 1,000 wounded.
Up to 400 were believed killed in fighting earlier this month.
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