Liberia: A circle of attack tightened around embattled Liberian president Charles Taylor yesterday as rebels opened two new fronts while continuing to pound on the doors of the capital, Monrovia.
An all-out assault on Liberia's second city Buchanan, 100 kilometres east of Monrovia, appeared to have led to victory for the smaller rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL). City residents said by telephone that the rebels seized control following a swift battle. Mr Taylor's defence minister vowed to repel them.
Meanwhile the main LURD rebels claimed to have captured the central town of Gbarnga while continuing an offensive on downtown Monrovia.
Rebel mortars and machinegun fire pounded the seaport capital for the 10th consecutive day as a tropical downpour emptied over the suffering civilian population.
The twin military victories will further stretch Mr Taylor's line of defence and may complicate plans to deploy peacekeepers into the crippled West African country.
Yesterday Nigeria was expected to set a departure date for 1,300 troops - the vanguard of a larger West African force - but no announcement was made.
The US, which has sent a three-ship fleet carrying over 2,000 troops towards Liberia, despatched a senior official to West Africa for talks on a possible humanitarian deployment.
Assistant secretary of state Mr Walter Kansteiner is due to meet with West African leaders, who are also planning a peacekeeping mission.
Peace talks continued in Ghana but the rebels, flushed by their success, appeared more interested in force than negotiation.
"Taylor must go," LURD spokesman Mr Joe Wylie told reporters, saying only international "whining about civilian casualties" had stopped them from toppling the Liberian leader.
"He's getting weaker and weaker," Wylie said. "He should not face us in a final military showdown that will just take lives." Meanwhile Monrovia's humanitarian continued to deepen. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan attacked the LURD for its "reckless behaviour" which he said would disqualify the rebels from a role in post-conflict Liberia. As fresh mortar fire rocked the downtown area yesterday, ordinary Liberians renewed pleas for any peacekeepers to arrive quickly.
"They are very late," said Rev. Franklin Holt of Monrovia College. "Extremely late."