OCHA Situation Report No. 53
Liberia
2 October 2003


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

GENERAL SITUATION

As noted in Sitrep 52, fighting broke out yesterday in the Paynesville
section of Monrovia during the scheduled visit of Mr. Sekou Coneh (LURD)
to interim President Moses Blah.  Though a previous agreement had been
made to limit the number of vehicles travelling into Monrovia, the LURD
convoy largely exceeded the agreed upon number of vehicles.

Though the sequence of events remains unclear, there appears to have been
an exchange of fire between government forces and LURD resulting in four
fatalities.  One UNICEF car was forced to return to Tubmanburg and a total
of five UN cars were hijacked.

Though there was a three-hour lull in unrest this morning, militias became
active in the Paynesville/Red Light district area at approximately 9 a.m.
Early reports suggest that these attacks were in response to events
yesterday and focussed largely on Mandingo civilians.

Unfortunately, this unrest forced the UN to restrict movements and suspend
planned humanitarian assessments until at least tomorrow (3 October).

COMMON SERVICES

Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC)

During the daily Heads of Agency meeting HIC staff have been asked to
attend meetings of the sector specific working groups in order to provide
technical assistance as and when appropriate.


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