LIBERIA: PRO GOVERNMENT GROUPS TOLD TO STOP US EMBASSY PROTEST

(23 Sep 1998) Natural Sound

Liberian lawmakers have ordered pro-government groups to abandon plans to protest in front of the U-S Embassy, where a former warlord has taken refuge since weekend gun battles.

Fifteen civic groups had planned to march to the embassy compound on the western edge of the city center to protest at the presence of former rebel leader Roosevelt Johnson in the embassy.

Despite the government request, some groups still threaten to march on the embassy.

Dozens of people died during the two-day clashes involving forces loyal to President Charles Taylor and supporters of Johnson - the president's chief rival.

Roosevelt Johnson turned up at the U-S Embassy on Saturday, but was fired on by Liberian forces as he spoke with embassy officials outside the gate.

Three days later embassy employees began working in the rain to stack sandbags on the roof, setting up nests where troops could be posted.

Others have sealed front gates with rolls of barbed wire.

U-S servicemen, some of them heavily armed and dressed for combat, patrolled around the buildings.

Outside, American troops and West African peacekeepers toured the perimeter identifying ways to improve security arrangements.

The peacekeepers, known as ECOMOG, have patrolled parts of Liberia for years, and now maintain a heavy force around the U-S Embassy.

Roosevelt Johnson still inside the compound has since been charged with treason along with 21 others.

U-S officials have said he will not be handed over the government.

President Taylor has promised that the embassy won't come under attack, but there remains an uneasy calm and nonessential staff have been evacuated.

Although the fighting has stopped, some people remain nervous, recalling Liberia's civil war, which ended two years ago after 150,000 were killed and half the country's population became refugees.

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