LIBERIA: Henry pointed to his sister's corpse lying outside the US embassy in Liberia's capital, cradled his head in his hands and started weeping."Here lies my sister. If the Americans had come in to help she would not be lying at this place.
"Why do they not want to help us? Why did they go to Iraq and cannot come here? Is it because Iraq has oil?" he said.
Like hundreds of other Liberians massed outside the US embassy yesterday, Henry is angry that the superpower he sees as Liberia's historic motherland has not stopped the fighting between rebels and government troops which has been raging in Monrovia.
Henry was sheltering with his sister on Tuesday in a US compound used as a storage area, just under 1km from the embassy, when two rockets smashed into the grounds, killing 15 and injuring at least 30.
Angered by the seemingly endless cycle of violence in the west African country, Liberians brought the bodies from the Graystone compound and laid them in front of the embassy, under the ever-watchful eye of heavily-armed marines.
"The Americans should send troops now to save us. If that does not happen more people in the country will continue to die because [the rebels] will come back," said Martin Wesseh, who also fled fighting to seek refuge in the Graystone compound.
"Why should they forget about us?" he said, before breaking down in tears.
The Health Minister, Mr Peter Coleman, said yesterday that about 300 civilians had been killed and 1,000 injured as rebels pushed into Monrovia over the past few days.
Liberia was founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves as a haven of liberty, its capital named after President James Monroe, and for decades the ruling elite were descended from slaves, people known as Americo-Liberians.
Many in the war-ravaged capital survive on dollars wired from relatives in the United States, rebel groups hand out American phone numbers for their spokesmen and, unlike many other west African nations, US hit records are the staple in bars and clubs.
When the head of the University of Liberia conducted a straw poll of 100 students recently, asking them where they would like to be right now, 90 said the US, and eight said Europe.
US dollars are accepted everywhere, especially since Liberia's currency, which is known as the Liberty Dollar, has slumped over the years from parity with its US cousin to only about 70 cents now.
The Liberty's decline mirrors the country's descent from a relatively prosperous nation, hailed by neighbours for never having been colonised, to what is now a ruined state where guns rule and human rights are a luxury.
Liberians reproach the United States for not taking the same military role that Britain took to stem civil war in its former colony, Sierra Leone, and that France is taking action now in Ivory Coast, both neighbours of Liberia.
"The problem we are going through here is very serious. There's no food, no water, no medicine.
"We call on the international community now, and are looking to the Americans," said a man called Konowah, also outside the embassy.
Until about 20,000 displaced people broke into the Graystone compound on Tuesday, the gates had been kept firmly shut during the fighting.
The embassy has now given the green light for aid teams to prepare facilities to house up to 36,000 people.
But what many beleaguered Liberians really want is for the beefy marines to leave the sprawling US embassy compound and restore order to the battered coastal capital.
"If they take the lead, other countries will follow," said Konowah.
- (Reuters)