Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 25, 1990 TAG: 9007250069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MONROVIA, LIBERIA LENGTH: Medium
A spokesman for President Samuel Doe said the seaborne attack appeared to have been launched by a U.S. submarine. The State Department denied the allegation.
A presidential spokesman, Selly Thompson, also told the British Broadcasting Corp. in London that government troops were advancing against rebels in Monrovia.
Followers of rebel leader Prince Johnson penetrated the city center Monday after wading through swampland and evading troops guarding bridges into town. Followers of Charles Taylor, a rival rebel commander, were blocked by government troops in the city's eastern suburbs. Taylor said he had infiltrated some men into the capital, but only in small numbers.
Taylor and Johnson split sometime in the past three months, and some foreign diplomats have said Johnson's group is now stronger than Taylor's.
Witnesses said an unidentified vessel approached the coastline in the darkness and fired at least six rounds at Doe's mansion. Doe was believed to be inside the compound.
Troops inside returned fire, and the booming of cannon shots echoed through the city.
The damage to the heavily fortified mansion could not be determined immediately. Reporters who tried to go there or to the nearby ministry of information were turned back by soldiers.
Later, Thompson read a statement to the BBC saying "the mansion had been the target of a missile attack from the sea by what seemed to be a United States submarine."
The African nation, founded by freed American slaves 150 years ago, traditionally has had close ties with Washington. But Washington has refused to send in a peace-keeping force, and on Saturday Doe ordered the American military attache expelled, accusing him of helping the rebels.
The United States denied the accusations. It has offered to provide safe conduct out of the country for Doe.
Troops loyal to Doe patrolled Monrovia's streets. Shops were closed. Civilians, searching in vain for food, were harassed by soldiers nervous after the surprise attack by followers of Johnson.
The rebels have accused Doe, who took power in a 1980 coup, of corruption, mismanagement and human rights abuses. At least nine male bodies, most of them stripped, were found on a beach not far from the city's embassy district Tuesday. Witnesses told a photographer that soldiers had brought the people there during the night and summarily executed them.
Doe's troops, fearful the rebels will kill former soldiers if they take the capital, have frequently been seen shooting civilians, usually from tribes that provide support for Taylor.
Taylor's soldiers have similarly executed troops belonging to Doe's Krahn tribe.
by CNB