LIBERIA: FIGHTING CONTINUES AS INTERNATIONAL AID THREATENS TO LEAVE

English/Nat

As the international community threatens to pull out of Liberia - gunmen continue to roam the streets of the capital city, Monrovia.

Liberian leaders are reaching crunch time to find peace as another ceasefire passes unheeded.

At least one of the country's main warlords has pondered temporary asylum in Nigeria to bring peace to the region.

The streets remain deserted save for the smatterings of Liberian gunmen.

It's fighting like this that the international community is asking the gunmen to reconsider.

If they stop - they'll get aid - in particular from the U-S which is offering a 100-million dollar package.

The package would pay for equipment for African peacekeepers, the disarming and reintegration of rebels and the return of refugees.

The money is contingent upon fulfilling the 1995 accord, which
created the current government of rebel leaders and civilians and
called for disarmament and elections this year.

Nigeria and Ghana, which provide the bulk of troops for the 10-thousand-man peacekeeping force, have threatened to withdraw the army unless the current violence stops.

Scenes like this on Wednesday have reportedly eased off.

And people appear to want peace.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
(Q: Do you think it's time peace came to Monrovia?)
"Yes! Yes! Everybody here wants peace. I even met a guy yesterday, we shook hands, hugged each other and told each other that we wanted peace."
SUPERCAPTION: Lieutenant Charles Tubman, Government Police Officer

Nigeria has offered asylum to faction leader Roosevelt Johnson.

Johnson, who was ousted from Liberia's government in March, issued no immediate response to the offer.

But his possible departure raises hopes of at least a temporary halt to nearly nonstop anarchy in Monrovia that has forced civilians to cower in makeshift refugee centres like this one.

It was not immediately clear, however, if Johnson's exile would satisfy his two main rivals: Charles Taylor and Alhaji Kromah.

The U-S embassy is still under heavy guard - with barbed wire wrapped round the compound where hundreds have sought refuge.

The Egyptian embassy has been torched - and countless foreigners have fled the country.

Nevertheless, Nigeria, as well as Ghana and the United States, have made clear that further military and economic support could end soon if the government doesn't stick to the 1995 peace accord.
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