GANGS of Liberian militia blasted their way through gates with rocket propelled grenades and carried off their spoils in UN vehicles as fighting in the capital, Monrovia, turned into a frenzy of looting yesterday.
The United States diverted the amphibious assault ship Guam from the Adriatic to help evacuate foreign nationals. Residents confined to their homes since fighting broke out on Saturday complained that food and water were running short.
Witnesses said looters had attacked the Lebanese school next to the US embassy in the Mamba Point district and were using vehicles from the UN military observer mission to carry off stolen goods.
Maj Lewis Boone, spokesman for the evacuation operation in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, told reporters that the US had diverted the Guam and two other vessels from the Adriatic to west Africa. He said 500 to 600 Marines would travel with the ships, which could take a week to arrive.
A UN official said looters invaded UN Development Programme offices overnight.
The commander of the African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, Gen John Inienger, said his men were trying to take control of key city districts to prevent carnage spreading. He said that ECOMOG units on Wednesday intercepted bands of armed guerrillas trying to infiltrate the capital from western Liberia to back up colleagues locked in fighting.
"We have started fanning out and we should try and secure the Mamba Point area as a priority," he said, referring to the district where the UNDP offices, other international agencies, most embassies and diplomatic residences are located. US military helicopters have been ferrying foreigners from the US embassy in the district to Freetown or Dakar.
In six years of civil war in Liberia, the capital had been relatively safe until clashes occurred nearly a week ago after the coalition government tried to arrest a Krahn tribe warlord, Gen Roosevelt Johnson, on murder charges.
The fighting is the most serious threat to a 1995 peace accord signed in Nigeria last August. Nigeria and Ghana, which have the largest contingents of troops in the ECOMOG force sent to Liberia in 1990, held urgent consultations on Wednesday and pledged their commitment to the regional peacekeeping effort.
Five Irish missionaries were evacuated from Liberia early this morning and an Irish aid worker and her nine month old daughter are awaiting a US evacuation flight.
The priests, members of the Society of African Missions were taken from the Liberian capital Monrovia, to safety in Dakar. The priests, Father Lee Cahill and Father Larry Collins from Cork Father Mat hew Gilmore from Galway, Father Frank Hynes from Sligo and Father Jim Hickey from Dublin are expected to return to Ireland in the near future.
Another member of the order, Father Jim Lee from Co Down, decided to remain in the country.
Ms Theresa Kinnehan, a relief worker from Co Westmeath, and her daughter, Mairead, were also evacuated.