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.