The African peacekeepers did not arrive this week, despite efforts to do so. But an advance party of a few dozen officers and troops did arrive. This group is inspecting facilities and generally checking out the situation first hand. The 1,500 Nigerian troops are now expected to arrive on August 4th or 5th. One battalion of Nigerians will enter from Sierra Leone, another will fly in from Nigeria. Another 2,000 peacekeepers will follow within three weeks. The peacekeeping force, called ECOMIL, has announced that president Charles Taylor will have three days, after the arrival of the peacekeepers, to depart for exile in Nigeria. Taylor has said that he will decide when he will leave. ECOMIL is the ECOWAS (organization of West African states) mission in Liberia.
Meanwhile, the fighting goes on between government and LURD fighters, with the rebels trying different routes into the capital. When government troops discover LURD moving into a new area, a firefight breaks out. The result is usually LURD just staying where they are, or withdrawing. There have been rumors of LURD running short of ammunition, but there is still a steady clatter of gunfire every day. The rebels say they won't stop shooting until the government fighters do, and until Charles Taylor leaves the country.
Civilians are also being shot at when they come out of their hiding places to search for food. Since most rebel and government troops do not wear uniforms, civilians will often be shot at on sight on the chance that they are armed opponents. Foreign aid groups have not been able to distribute food, medical or other relief supplies in most of the country because of the lawless behavior of government and rebel troops. Disease, especially cholera, is breaking out among some of the refugees in the capital, who are living under very crowded and unsanitary conditions.
When Nigerian peacekeepers were here in the 1990s, they fought regularly with government and rebel fighters, and suffered several thousand casualties. The Nigerians expect to have to fight again. ECOWAS wants American troops involved, but the US won't send its troops in until Charles Taylor leaves and Taylor shows no sign of leaving soon. The US is reluctant to send troops in because there is no peace to keep and there is not likely to be until the current civil war is over.
