FBIS4-23186
"drafr104_e_94001"
FBIS-AFR-94-104
Daily Report
27 May 1994
WEST AFRICA
Liberia
Factional Fighting Around Tubmanburg Continues
Factional Fighting Around Tubmanburg Continues
Krahn Group Launches Attack
AB2705170294 London BBC World Service in English 1515 GMT 27
May 94
AB2705170294
London BBC World Service
English
BFN
[From the "Focus on Africa" program]
[Text] The battle for the Liberian town of Tubmanburg has
reached a crisis. It is a stronghold of Alhaji Koromah's
Mandingo faction of the ULIMO [United Liberation Movement for
Democracy in Liberia] movement. They have been fighting
Roosevelt Johnson's Krahn group since a power struggle erupted
in March. The United Nations and ECOMOG [Economic Community of
West African States Cease-Fire Monitoring Group] force have been
powerless to stop it, and civilians have inevitably been caught
in the crossfire. Now it looks as though Roosevelt Johnson's
forces are poised to capture the town. From Monrovia, our
correspondent, Nii Nartey Allison, telexed this report.
Diplomats and military sources today said that 700 soldiers
loyal to Roosevelt Johnson launched a major attack on Tubmanburg
at 6 AM yesterday morning. United Nations officials here said
that UN observers in Tubmanburg are still holed up in their base
on the outskirts of the city as sporadic gunfire echoes
throughout Tubmanburg. They said there were heavy casualties on
both sides, and dozens of civilians trying to escape the
fighting have been killed in the crossfire. The situation still
remains unclear.
A spokesman for the ECOMOG peacekeeping force said today
that
their troops which had deployed southwest of Tubmanburg have
been drawn into the fighting following an attack on its base by
one of the ULIMO factions. Yesterday, Alhaji Koromah's faction
accused the African peacekeeping troops of siding with the
Krahns in the ULIMO conflict, but the ECOMOG commander in charge
of Western Liberia, the Nigerian, Kunle Togun, told reporters
that he was not surprised by the accusation because the same
allegation had in the past been made by the Krahns.
Unconfirmed reports said the commander of the Mandingo
faction, General Mohamed Dumbuya, was killed last night in a gun
battle. Roosevelt Johnson, leader of the Krahn faction, told
reporters late last night that he was compelled to move on
Tubmanburg to stop the killings of innocent people by the
Mandingo tribe. The World Food Program said here today that
fighting in Tubmanburg has disrupted food distribution to 20,000
people living in Tubmanburg.
We have just heard from Nii Nartey Allison that Tubmanburg
has fallen to Roosevelt Johnson. He says Alhaji Koromah's
faction has moved its headquarters to Voinjama in Liberia's
northern Lofa County. He also says that Alhaji Koromah has
denied that his trusted field commander, Mohamed Dumbuya, has
been killed.