Liberian leader accuses US

Liberian leader accuses US

Thousands have fled the latest fighting

Liberian President Charles Taylor has accused the United States of indirectly supporting Liberian rebels.

He said the United States had given money to help train the Guinean army, which he said was backing Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) rebels.

Mr Taylor made the remarks on a visit to a camp for displaced people near the capital, Monrovia, that was attacked by Lurd on Tuesday.

He also disclosed that his country was importing weapons in defiance of a United Nations ban.

Mr Taylor said Liberia needed the weapons to defend itself against the rebels - and he said the UN had been duly notified.

Liberia is under a UN arms embargo after being accused of supporting the former rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone

News of the advance to within 10km of the capital caused some panic, and security in the capital was increased.

BBC reporter Jonathan Paye-Layleh, who visited the camp at Ricks Institute, was told by residents that the rebels press-ganged hundreds of men and women into carrying looted goods on their behalf.

Several people were killed there, say the government.

The Liberian Government said its forces were pursuing the Lurd rebels.

Gbarnga

The rebels have opened several battlefronts, including the central town of Gbarnga, where fierce fighting has been going on, since the rebels captured the town last Friday.

Our correspondent says up to 30,000 people have been displaced by the fighting there, with most of them arriving by foot at camps in the highway town of Totota, some 40 km to the south-east.

Scores of people are believed to have died in the fighting.

Lurd rebels have been fighting a three-year armed campaign against President Charles Taylor.

On Wednesday, the United States renewed an existing warning for US citizens to avoid all travel to Liberia, citing a further deterioration of the security situation there.