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: Disease, hunger are victors in Liberian siege Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 16:22:11 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Disease, hunger are victors in Liberian siege \BY Michelle Faul \CR ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT MONROVIA, Liberia MONROVIA, Liberia - With tears choking her voice, the young mother begged outside a clinic, "Please, please open the gates. My baby's dying." It was too late. Juah Sonpon, 4 months old, died minutes later of measles. He was another victim of the four-week-long guerrilla siege that has cut off Monrovia's supplies of clean water, food and medicine. Rebels loyal to guerrilla leader Charles Taylor have been shelling Monrovia's port daily, frightening away ships carrying food and medical supplies to the besieged capital. A measles epidemic, carried by refugees from northwestern Bomi County, has flared from 380 reported cases in August to 600 in October, according to U.N. Children's Fund representative Carl Tinstman. No one can say how many children have died, certainly dozens. Monrovia has only one small operating morgue, and many of the dead are simply buried in back gardens. The last U.N. ship to reach Monrovia arrived two weeks ago, carrying 4,000 tons of corn and soya blend for malnourished children. Dockers had offloaded only 500 tons when the shelling resumed and the captain pulled out to sea. The rebels also have targeted Monrovia's only operating airport, firing rockets that fell within yards of the runway two weeks ago. Only one chartered airline, which charges twice the rates of scheduled airlines, still flies into the capital. Three 12-seat Cessna aircraft carrying 31 passengers flew out of the capital yesterday, the first planes to leave Monrovia in two weeks. Their safe departure, despite threats from Mr. Taylor to shoot them out of the sky, reinforced reports that West African troops defending Monrovia are pushing Mr. Taylor's fighters out of the city's suburbs. Soldiers from the seven-nation force manned roadblocks and said they had retaken parts of the Gardnersville suburb, raising hopes that the bodies of five slain American nuns could be recovered. Before the planes took off this morning, Mr. Taylor broadcast a radio message asserting that they were an "enemy target" transporting arms for the West African force sent to halt Liberia's 3-year-old civil war. An official of WEASUA Air Transport said the claim was "completely untrue." "We transport relief supplies for the United Nations and other relief agencies, and we carry civilians," said WEASUA Managing Director Manuel Cuenca Casado. A chartered Boeing 707 carrying badly needed medical supplies and personnel for the Belgian branch of Doctors Without Borders, a goodwill group, was diverted to neighboring Ivory Coast last week after Mr. Taylor warned any aircraft would be targeted. "We've got a ship with 3,000 tons of rice that has been standing off the port for days, and the United Nations is still negotiating, trying to persuade its captain to come in," U.N. spokeswoman Kathy McManus said. She estimated that the U.N.'s food supplies would last another two weeks. Many of the 200,000 refugees from the besieged suburbs, who have crowded into schools and other public buildings in Monrovia, receive only one cup of rice every two days. At West Point Clinic, where 4-month-old Juah died, Roman Catholic Sister Irene Peano opens her gates at 8 a.m. and closes them at 10:30 p.m., leaving hundreds of pleading people outside. "We just can't cope. We're treating 420 patients a day," she said. Most suffer from malaria, diarrhea, measles, malnutrition and anemia. Sister Peano said she has seen a growing number of tuberculosis cases, which she blamed on the lack of sanitation and overcrowding in West Point. 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