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American Morning

Fighting Erupts Again in Capital of Liberia

Aired July 22, 2003 - 07:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Fighting erupted again in the capital of Liberia. Explosions and gunfire could be heard in the streets as rebel fighters advance. Bodies of civilians are reportedly being stacked up outside the U.S. Embassy, where many people are taking refuge.
CNN's Jeff Koinange is at the embassy.

He joins us live from inside that compound in Monrovia -- Jeff, good morning.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, we are still very much inside the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy compound. But I can tell you, for the first time in two days, the CNN crew did venture outside into the streets of Monrovia to see for ourselves the extent of devastation and destruction. And we did see it. Buildings which had been shelled by mortar. We could see what the mortar had done and other places where people must have stood when the mortars landed, because we could see blood all over the pavement.

No civilians in the streets of the capital at all and we could tell you, while we were driving, we ran into the defense minister of this country right outside his office with his troops. I asked him about morale. He told us morale, I'll show you, and they started singing and chanting some songs. I also asked him what the general feeling is, what the death toll is, because we're hearing conflicting reports. And he told us it's definitely in the upwards of 600 and many hundreds more injured.

He also said all, he was pleading with the United States and the United Nations to lift the arms embargo on Liberia so that they could handle matters themselves. He said if they did have the necessary arms, they could push the rebels further back out.

But he did say they were holding their positions. He did say they were on the defensive. All they need to do is they need a little help so that they could push the rebels back and continue what they need to do.

In the meantime, thousands of Liberians still devastated, still panicking, still fleeing the city. You could see, it's raining behind me, which means that it's adding to the already deplorable situation in this city that's all but paralyzed -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Jeff Koinange reporting for us from Monrovia.

And he has truly done a terrific job as this story breaks, covering it for us.

President Bush says he is watching the situation in Liberia very closely, but the pressure is mounting for action.

How is the administration reacting to the latest developments?

CNN senior White House correspondent John King is on the front lawn at the White House this morning -- John, good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

You mentioned the pressure on President Bush. It has been nearly a month now since the president committed to some U.S. role in a peacekeeping operation. Obviously, no peacekeepers on the ground as the violence continues and, in some ways, intensifies.

What the administration says is this -- that it is most urgent that Liberia's Western African neighbors go in first. There's a meeting of Western African defense ministers going on today. There's some thought here at the White House that perhaps by the end of the day there will be a plan for a West African force to move into Liberia relatively quickly. Defining what relatively quickly means has been the issue over the past several weeks.

The Western African troops would go in first. President Charles Taylor has agreed to leave when they come. And then President Bush says U.S. troops would go in.

There are some 4,500 U.S. sailors and Marines now moved pretty close to Liberia. They could move on a moment's notice. But here at the White House they say the president has made no final decisions and no orders given. He believes the situation on the ground is just too chaotic right now to send in U.S. troops in any peacekeeping role -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: John, a quick question for you. So it sounds like the time line, then, for U.S. troops to go in is very fluid.

Is the president willing to be pinned down to several weeks, a month out, before U.S. troops, peacekeeping troops, could land in there?

KING: They could go in within a matter of days. But what the administration says is what must happen first is that there must be an end to the fighting. These troops will go in to keep the peace, to help keep the peace, to supplement Western African troops. As long as there is fighting and as long as President Taylor remains in power, the White House says there is no peace to keep and therefore no role for U.S. troops. The president does not want them in the middle of a civil war -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: John King at the White House for us this morning.

John, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 22, 2003 - 07:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Fighting erupted again in the capital of Liberia. Explosions and gunfire could be heard in the streets as rebel fighters advance. Bodies of civilians are reportedly being stacked up outside the U.S. Embassy, where many people are taking refuge.
CNN's Jeff Koinange is at the embassy.

He joins us live from inside that compound in Monrovia -- Jeff, good morning.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, we are still very much inside the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy compound. But I can tell you, for the first time in two days, the CNN crew did venture outside into the streets of Monrovia to see for ourselves the extent of devastation and destruction. And we did see it. Buildings which had been shelled by mortar. We could see what the mortar had done and other places where people must have stood when the mortars landed, because we could see blood all over the pavement.

No civilians in the streets of the capital at all and we could tell you, while we were driving, we ran into the defense minister of this country right outside his office with his troops. I asked him about morale. He told us morale, I'll show you, and they started singing and chanting some songs. I also asked him what the general feeling is, what the death toll is, because we're hearing conflicting reports. And he told us it's definitely in the upwards of 600 and many hundreds more injured.

He also said all, he was pleading with the United States and the United Nations to lift the arms embargo on Liberia so that they could handle matters themselves. He said if they did have the necessary arms, they could push the rebels further back out.

But he did say they were holding their positions. He did say they were on the defensive. All they need to do is they need a little help so that they could push the rebels back and continue what they need to do.

In the meantime, thousands of Liberians still devastated, still panicking, still fleeing the city. You could see, it's raining behind me, which means that it's adding to the already deplorable situation in this city that's all but paralyzed -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Jeff Koinange reporting for us from Monrovia.

And he has truly done a terrific job as this story breaks, covering it for us.

President Bush says he is watching the situation in Liberia very closely, but the pressure is mounting for action.

How is the administration reacting to the latest developments?

CNN senior White House correspondent John King is on the front lawn at the White House this morning -- John, good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

You mentioned the pressure on President Bush. It has been nearly a month now since the president committed to some U.S. role in a peacekeeping operation. Obviously, no peacekeepers on the ground as the violence continues and, in some ways, intensifies.

What the administration says is this -- that it is most urgent that Liberia's Western African neighbors go in first. There's a meeting of Western African defense ministers going on today. There's some thought here at the White House that perhaps by the end of the day there will be a plan for a West African force to move into Liberia relatively quickly. Defining what relatively quickly means has been the issue over the past several weeks.

The Western African troops would go in first. President Charles Taylor has agreed to leave when they come. And then President Bush says U.S. troops would go in.

There are some 4,500 U.S. sailors and Marines now moved pretty close to Liberia. They could move on a moment's notice. But here at the White House they say the president has made no final decisions and no orders given. He believes the situation on the ground is just too chaotic right now to send in U.S. troops in any peacekeeping role -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: John, a quick question for you. So it sounds like the time line, then, for U.S. troops to go in is very fluid.

Is the president willing to be pinned down to several weeks, a month out, before U.S. troops, peacekeeping troops, could land in there?

KING: They could go in within a matter of days. But what the administration says is what must happen first is that there must be an end to the fighting. These troops will go in to keep the peace, to help keep the peace, to supplement Western African troops. As long as there is fighting and as long as President Taylor remains in power, the White House says there is no peace to keep and therefore no role for U.S. troops. The president does not want them in the middle of a civil war -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: John King at the White House for us this morning.

John, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com