US to send troops to help Liberian peacekeepers

10.00am

MONROVIA - The United States plans to send about 200 marines into Liberia in the next few days to back West African peacekeepers, who are taking over from rebel fighters in the battered capital, the Pentagon said today.

Diplomats and West African officers in the city said they expected some marines to land early on Thursday from three warships, anchored offshore with 2,300 marines aboard since the flight into exile of pariah leader Charles Taylor.

Air Force Major-General Norton Schwartz, director of operations for the US Joint Staff, said most of the 200 marines would be a reaction force based temporarily in Monrovia.

Liberians would love to see US troops intervene in a country founded by freed American slaves, but Washington is wary of deep involvement. Memories are sharp of a bloody US debacle in Somalia a decade ago that began as an aid mission.

A senior Pentagon official said the US troops were expected to be in place in the next four days.

West African military sources said marines were expected to cover the arrival on Thursday of a second battalion, nearly 800-strong, of Nigerian peacekeepers in the Ecomil force.

Nigerians on the ground since last week could then move towards the vital port, where frenzied looting by famished Liberians broke out on Wednesday as rebels packed up to leave.

Schwartz said the marines would mean: "a quick reaction capability if something unexpected happens in respect of the Ecomil unit".

Signs grew of a growing US role in a city where recent fighting left 2,000 dead, the latest victims of nearly 14 years of strife.

US helicopters whirred overhead and two all-terrain vehicles were seen in the streets. New President Moses Blah said US jets would soon start patrols to help ensure the success peace of efforts in the anarchic country.

Chaos erupted at Monrovia's port as thousands of hungry people stormed in to grab food from warehouses while rebels were packing up to leave so that the West African peacekeeping force can move in on Thursday.

Men, women and children scrambled through containers and ripped open sacks in a frantic search for any aid stocks still left. Rebels fired shots and lashed with whips to halt the chaos, panicking looters with bags of cornmeal on their heads.

Heavily laden pick-up trucks sprayed with rebel battle names headed north towards rebel strongholds in the bush.

"I don't want to be a minister. I'm going back to my farm," said rebel chief of staff Major General Seyea Sherriff.

Civilians have been the main victims of untrained young fighters on

- REUTERS