LIBERIA: MONROVIA: HEAVY BATTLES CONTINUES AMONG RIVAL FACTIONS

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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English/Nat Liberia lurched further into anarchy Thursday as West African leaders dimmed hopes for peace by canceling emergency talks and issuing only a series of recommendations on how to end the fighting. Heavy battles rocked the Liberian capital and spread to the diplomatic section of Mamba Point, where bullets flew down deserted streets near the American Embassy and grenade and mortar blasts thundered through the air. Armed fighters roam the streets of Monrovia. Bodies lie strewn over the road - a clear indication that the emergency peace talks have ended in failure. Hopes for a truce have dimmed again following the breakdown of peace talks and fighting has broken out among rival factions again. Sporadic gunfire was heard throughout the capital on Wednesday. West African leaders cancelled the talks after most of the key players failed to show up. A set of recommendations was issued by the nine members of the Economic Community for West African States. They include an immediate cease fire and reinstatement of ousted faction leader Roosevelt Johnson. But so far nothing has been resolved. Gunmen loyal to Liberia's main warlord Charles Taylor have placed the head of an ethnic Krahn fighter on a table at a roadblock in central Monrovia's Benson Street. It looks out over the city centre buffer zone. The gunmen said the head belonged to a member of the celebrated Butt-Naked Brigade captured in fighting on Monday. The body, with a bullet wound in the neck, lay in the street 100 metres away. The corpse of another captive further up the hill had been partially burned. The Butt-Naked Brigade gets its name from its fighters' preference for fighting with no or few clothes. This church inside the Barclay training centre now houses refugees seeking shelter from the fighting. It was attacked on May 6th. The Barclay training centre is the headquarters of Roosevelt Johnson's forces. These are the lucky ones who have escaped with their lives. Others are being treated in hospital. The Chief of staff LPC General W.B. Quiah does not believe Charles Taylor has any intention of honouring the ceasefire. SOUNDBITE: "From our side we say the ceasefire can go but from Mr. Taylor's side for each time he asks for a ceasefire he says there's a ceasefire he means he's mobilising his men to come and attack more." SUPER CAPTION: General W.B. Quiah - Chief of staff LPC The bitter civil war in Liberia has caused the deaths of hundreds if not thousands since the outbreak of fighting on April 6th. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4e276e5d6ce9ae89774eb1b15dab2426 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork