Liberian war refugees take shelter in soccer stadium

MONROVIA, Liberia -- Buckets in hand, thousands of rain-soaked Liberian war refugees gathered Monday on the muddy soccer field of a sports stadium, clamoring for emergency food rations.

Driven from their homes by fighting between army and rebel forces, entire families have moved into the stadium, building shelters of bamboo and leaves under bleachers, laying clothes to dry on the running track and camping out in locker rooms and offices.

Pressure is mounting on the United States to lead a peacekeeping mission to quell the violence in the West African nation founded by freed American slaves.

President Bush met Monday in Washington with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who appealed for help in bringing peace to Liberia. Aides to Bush said they didn't expect a decision this week.

Some 33,000 people are camped out at the Samuel Doe Stadium, named for the former Liberian president killed in 1990 by forces loyal to Taylor.

Packed with people

In more peaceful days, the same number of people filled the stadium for track-and-field competitions and soccer games.

Now, every crevice free of rain is packed with refugees.

Taylor, indicted for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone, has promised to leave Liberia once an international peacekeeping force arrives. Rebel leaders also seek the intervention of peacekeepers, but argue that any forces arriving before Taylor's departure would fortify the president's embattled regime.

In the stadium's underground levels, a rabbit warren of bare concrete rooms teemed with people Monday. Orange embers from charcoal fires and slits of sunlight from the occasional window provided the only light.

Pebbles lined the floors, marking off the living spaces claimed by individual families.

Red Cross trucks were parked on the stadium's track, where workers distributed white plastic buckets full of food and household supplies -- cornmeal, vegetable oil, lentils, pots, blankets, sleeping mats and clothes.

The refugees waited in long lines, carrying away heaving sacks on their heads and retreating into the shadows of the stadium to cook meals on open fires.

Thick clouds of wood smoke hung in the air. Children, sent outside to collect firewood, returned carrying it on their heads.

'A bit difficult'

The food distribution will continue for the next four days, relief officials said.

"A lot of people are continuing to come," said Andre Mermillod, economic and security coordinator for the Red Cross. "The situation is a bit difficult because the more they are here, the less access they have to food."

Many refugees have been living in the stadium for the past month, when fighting intensified. Others have sought refuge in schools and churches.

"This is our means of survival and I hope others will come in to help," said Ottis Mulbah, 33, carrying a sack of cornmeal on his head. Tucked under one arm was a rolled-up sleeping mat, under the other were cooking utensils.

The rebels' three-year campaign to drive out Taylor is nearing a full-scale battle for the capital, crowded with 1 million residents and hundreds of thousands of refugees. Pressure for an international peace force -- and U.S. support -- grew during two rebel offensives of Monrovia last month.

Taylor launched Liberia into war in 1989, leading a small force of armed men to overthrow Doe.

The 14 years of near-perpetual conflict that followed has killed hundreds of thousands. Aid groups say virtually the whole population has been displaced by fighting at one time or another.

In the stadium, the rain and the misery appeared relentless.

"I want to go back home. We are living here on cold bare floors. It is just today that we are getting mats," 42-year-old Varney Coleman said.