Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Taylor's troops gain ground in siege of Liberian capital Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 14:38:17 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Taylor's troops gain ground in siege of Liberian capital \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT MONROVIA, Liberia MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - Rebel leader Charles Taylor's fighters reportedly advanced yesterday to within three miles of Monrovia's center, their closest approach since besieging the capital Oct. 15. Mr. Taylor's forces made the gain by capturing an iron factory on the edge of swampland they use for cover. Soldiers of a seven-nation West African force defending Monrovia were wounded in the assault. Based on past battles, it wasn't clear whether Mr. Taylor could hold the factory against a counterattack. His strategy appears to be to take control of Monrovia not by steadily advancing and holding surrounding areas but by sporadically attacking key sites, scaring residents and creating confusion and the impression of victory. Mr. Taylor hopes that a continued push in a war of attrition will force the multinational force to give up. In other fighting, three rockets hit homes in central Monrovia overnight, and a fourth hit eastern Sinkor suburb and injured 21 persons, relief workers said. One struck a home 200 yards from the Ducor Palace, a government-owned hotel that is the sleeping quarters for the West African-backed interim administration. Liberia's civil war began when Mr. Taylor invaded from Ivory Coast in December 1989. About 60,000 people have died in what grew into a tribal war; 40,000 of them starved during a siege of Monrovia in 1990. President Samuel Doe was killed, and seven West African nations dispatched a force to restore peace. The peacekeepers halted the siege, but peace plans have fallen through. In another development yesterday, relief workers were forced to postpone plans to rescue 301 war orphans cut off by the fighting for more than a week. The last message from the orphanage, on Friday, said Mr. Taylor's men had taken all their food. Liberian municipal workers and the World Health Organization prepared to collect bodies of fighters from swamps. WHO Director Dr. Ruth Tshabalala of Swaziland fears the bodies, which are decomposing, could cause a cholera outbreak in Monrovia, crowded by more than 160,000 refugees. Thick mangrove swamps that surround the landward side of this city on the Atlantic Ocean have proved a natural ally for Mr. Taylor's men. Their tenacity has surprised the 9,000-strong, Nigerian-led West African force. Nigeria has had to rush in hundreds of reinforcements daily, and its jets have been strafing and rocketing Mr. Taylor's supply lines. Two years ago, the West Africans drove off Mr. Taylor with bombings. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM