MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Civilians and gunmen pillaged food warehouses at Monrovia's rebel-held port yesterday, and relief workers said they could not start the flow of aid from ships waiting just off shore until peacekeepers step in and assure order.
After the resignation this week of former President Charles Taylor, insurgents have promised to pull back from Monrovia's capital at noon today, handing the vital port to a Nigerian-led peacekeeping force.
But while Taylor's move into exile brought hope that years of near-incessant warfare were ending, government troops and the country's smaller rebel group battled over a bridge near the capital's international airport.
Fighting has split the city into isolated pockets, with people in government-held areas cut off for weeks from the port and unable to get food, subsisting on leaves.
The larger rebel group -- which holds the port -- has kept Monrovia under siege for two months, killing more than 1,000 civilians, displacing thousands more and leaving hundreds of thousands famished and threatened by disease.
Carolyn McAskie, U.N. deputy emergency relief coordinator, said aid workers could begin bringing in food this weekend if rebels withdraw as promised. She emphasized the danger of gunmen trying to loot any transport, however, and appealed to the West African force for security.
"Peacekeepers must provide support to humanitarian workers," she told The Associated Press.
The port yesterday was subjected to the latest of repeated looting sprees. Apparently taking advantage of the remaining hours before the harbor is transferred to peacekeepers, thousands could be seen balancing bags of grain and cartons of cooking oil on their heads as they rushed past rebel fighters out of the port.
In an attempt to control the thievery as journalists arrived, rebels began beating the looters with gunstocks and fists and shooting over their heads.
Government forces fought members of Liberia's smaller rebel group yesterday near a bridge outside the country's main airfield, about 30 miles from Monrovia.
Rebel representative Boi Bleaju Boi said his forces had fallen back behind the bridge to show that they had no intention of taking the airport, but that government forces were attacking them. Boi spoke in Accra, Ghana, site of Liberia's sporadic peace talks.
Government representatives denied instigating the fighting and said all battles should have stopped on Monday after rebels attained their goal of Taylor's ouster. The ex-warlord went into exile in Nigeria with family members.
"For us, the war should be over by now," said Liberia's deputy defense minister, Austin Clarke.
Refugees fleeing toward the capital earlier said the rebels were attacking civilians and targeting men of fighting age, raising fears that they may be battling for a share of power after Taylor's resignation.
U.N. workers are ready to fly in cooking oil and lentils from neighboring Sierra Leone, McAskie said, but more peacekeepers are needed beyond the current vanguard force of about 800 Nigerian soldiers.
"There are definitely not enough peacekeepers on the ground," she said, though she said initial deployment meant to grow to 3,250 was an "important symbolic presence."
Rebel official Sekou Fofana told reporters Tuesday that insurgents would withdraw from the port: "We did not come and seize the port for any reason except security reasons."
Nigerian Brig. Gen. Festus Okonkwo, commander of the peace force, said the government side also needed to withdraw its militias from the city under the accord signed Tuesday. It remained unclear if that meant regular Liberian forces as well as militias.
The agreement also pins the still-forming multinational force to a timetable, forcing it to speed up deployment throughout the city.
West African nations negotiated Taylor's exit and pledged a peace force after rebels fighting a three-year war to oust the former warlord began a push into Monrovia two months ago, leaving at least 1,000 civilians dead and splitting the capital.
Ex-warlord Taylor -- accused of U.N. war crimes for trafficking with rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone -- ceded power to his deputy, Moses Blah, and went into exile in Nigeria. He is blamed for starting 14 years of conflict when, as a rebel, he launched Liberia into civil war in 1989.
Since landing the first troops Aug. 4, peacekeepers have ventured only occasionally into Monrovia from their temporary base at the main airport.
Despite international pressure to intervene, the United States has only sent about 100 Marines, including those protecting the U.S. Embassy, to Monrovia, while three U.S. warships carrying about 4,500 Marines and sailors await off Liberia's shore.
Many -- including Liberians -- say the United States has a historical obligation to help this nation founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves. A U.S. official said Tuesday that Marines might come ashore to provide security for aid distribution, but that no decisions have been made about expanding the American military presence.
Two U.S. attack helicopters swept along Monrovia's coast on yesterday, and one cargo helicopter carried a jeep beneath in a sling. Embassy officials refused comment on the helicopters' mission.
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The Associated Press
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Liberians loot food supplies from the port area in rebel-held Monrovia, Liberia, yesterday.
