Siege of Monrovia

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Siege of Monrovia

A government soldier defends a bridge in central Monrovia.

Date	July 18 - August 14, 2003
Location	Monrovia
Result	Charles G. Taylor resigns, peacekeepers arrive and rebels lift the siege

Belligerents

Armed Forces of Liberia

LURD rebels

Commanders

Charles G. Taylor

Unknown

Casualties and losses

1000 civilians killed^[1]

The Siege of Monrovia, which occurred in Monrovia, Liberia between July 18 and August 14, 2003, was a major military confrontation between the Armed Forces of Liberia and LURD rebels during the Second Liberian Civil War. The shelling of the city resulted in the deaths of some 1,000 civilians. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict. By the mid-August, after a two-month siege, the Liberian president Charles Taylor went into exile and peacekeepers arrived as a result of the siege.

[edit] Background

In early 2003, a rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerged in the south, and by the summer of 2003, Taylor's government controlled only a third of the country. Despite some setbacks, by mid-2003 LURD rebels controlled the northern third of the country and was threatening the capital.

[edit] Timeline

On July 18, 2003 rebels began their onslaught on Monrovia. The government said that more than 600 civilians had been killed in the next few days, six times the number of dead calculated by relief workers.^[2]

On July 21, United States marines flew into the American embassy complex, to provide additional security and protection after it was hit by a mortar bomb. The move prompted a furious response from city residents and displaced people in the capital, who besieged the embassy in another spontaneous demonstration, alternately pleading for American military assistance to help save Liberian lives and hurling abuse at the US mission for not taking action to end the fighting. They dragged bodies of some of those killed on July 21 and piled them up outside the American Embassy, in protest.^[3]

On August 14, Rebels lifted their siege of Liberia's capital Thursday and 200 American troops landed to support a West African peace force. Thousands of people danced and sang as American marines and the Nigerian-led west African troops ECOMOG^[4] took over the port and bridges which had split the capital into government and rebel-held zones.^[5]