Neglect of Liberia sparks alarm

Peacekeepers arrived, but Liberians are still waiting for aid supplies

A senior Red Cross delegate in Geneva has expressed revulsion at the desperate humanitarian situation of ordinary Liberians caught up in the country's civil war.

Christoph Harnisch, a senior delegate for Africa at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told journalists that "the local population, the Liberians, have been neglected to a point rarely seen even in Africa".

Nigerian soldiers entering the country's capital Monrovia for their first patrols on Thursday received a rapturous welcome from an exhausted, hungry population.

But the precarious nature of the truce was illustrated on Friday when rebels accused President Charles Taylor of attacking the town of Arthington, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital.

"We are asking for Taylor to leave Arthington, which is fully under our control, or we will resume fighting," said Sekou Fofana, of the main rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd).

'Revolt'

An estimated one million people are facing humanitarian crisis in Liberia as a result of the fighting. There are approximately 250,000 displaced people in Monrovia alone.

We're starving. We're eating food that humans should not be eating Athanasius Carr, 27

"When we see the very fast deterioration of the food situation in Monrovia, the beginning of severe malnutrition with children in some centres of the capital, that food stocks at the port of Monrovia cannot be distributed during days and days because there are not the conditions to do so, then we feel a sentiment of revolt," said Mr Harnisch.

His frustration was echoed in a 15-page analysis by the acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertie Ramcharan, who said attempts to find a negotiated political settlement to the crisis had overshadowed human rights violations.

Although Mr Ramcharan said most allegations of abuses were directed at the forces of President Taylor, he warned both sides that they would be brought to justice for their actions.

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A BBC correspondent in Monrovia, Barnaby Phillips, accompanied the two remaining aid agencies in the country as they crossed over into the rebel-held part of the city for the first time on Friday.

The ICRC and Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) are there to assess conditions in hospitals and clinics, but say they will evacuate civilians in critical condition.

Our correspondent says there appears to be more food available on the rebels' side of the city. But, he says, medical services are in a much worse condition.

No anaesthetic

In Monrovia's brewery - which has been transformed into a makeshift clinic for rebel soldiers and civilians - medical staff have run out of drugs. They are operating on wounded soldiers with no anaesthetic.

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In the city's second largest hospital, the Redemption Hospital, supplies have been comprehensively looted. It is now closed, and staff say they are waiting for the aid agencies to return.

The rebels have previously said that humanitarian aid can be delivered to the port - which they control - but they say they will not withdraw from Monrovia until Mr Taylor leaves Liberia.

On Thursday, Liberian President Charles Taylor sent a letter of resignation to parliament, saying that he would hand over power to Vice President Moses Blah on Monday.

However, he did not specify when he would leave the country and take up an offer of asylum in Nigeria.

But the rebels have said they will not accept Mr Blah as Mr Taylor's successor.

"If Moses Blah takes over, we will fight back. We will definitely fight Moses Blah," said Mr Fofana.