Ghanaians desperate to flee Liberia despite truce

MONROVIA, June 19 — Thousands of Ghanaians tried to push their way onto a ship sent to evacuate them from Liberia on Thursday, saying they were too afraid to stay despite a ceasefire.

Security guards fired in the air and used water hoses to try to hold back a crowd of 5,000 people trying to breach a barrier of heavy metal containers around the port.

People threw babies over a two-meter high wall to be caught on the other side or jumped from the pier into the sea.

There were only 1,000 places on the ship, the second to be sent by Ghana's government. Liberians hoping to escape were also among the crowd.

The truce, signed by rebels and President Charles Taylor's government on Tuesday, has been welcomed as a first step towards ending almost 14 years of war that have spread chaos in West Africa by creating a roaming band of ruthless fighters.

But residents of Monrovia -- a city already traumatised by a seven-year civil war in the 1990s -- are taking no chances.

''I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm going back to Ghana,'' one man shouted as he walked up the gangway.

The truce has offered some respite to Monrovia, where up to one million people were displaced by a rebel attack this month.

Diplomats said a U.S. assault ship which was sent to the waters off the coastal capital with 3,000 Marines and sailors aboard was due to leave soon as the situation stabilised.

Hundreds of Westerners have already been evacuated from the city.

''NO SECURITY''

Two rebel groups hold around 60 percent of Liberia. The main Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) was behind the blistering attack on Monrovia, while another group, known as Model, has seized a string of ports in the southeast.

The truce cleared the way for comprehensive peace talks in Ghana about forming a transition government without Taylor, a former warlord who has been indicted by a U.N.-backed court for war crimes related to Sierra Leone's savage conflict.

But Tuesday's deal did not say whether he was supposed to go before the end of his mandate in January as rebels demand.

Taylor has warned there will never be peace unless the indictment is lifted -- something the court is not likely to do.

On Thursday, military officials in Monrovia said their forces had been fighting with LURD on Wednesday around Ganta, near the border with Guinea, but Information Minister Reginald Goodridge said orders had been given to stop clashes.

''The Ministry of Defence has issued strict orders to all our men in the field to observe the ceasefire,'' he said.

In Ghana, rebels and the government delegation prepared to hand over documents detailing their positions so that a team of West African monitors can verify the ill-defined front line.

Taylor emerged victorious from Liberia's civil war, in which 200,000 people were killed, and then won elections in 1997. It took more than a dozen peace deals to end that conflict and many are wary that this latest truce may not hold.

''The ship is leaving. I have to leave. There is no security for us here,'' said Kow Dampson, as people bearing huge bundles and sacks struggled through thick red mud at Monrovia's port.