Call for

West to help Liberia
BY JOE JENKINS THE EXILED Archbishop of Monrovia last week made a personal plea to the international community to intervene and prevent further bloodshed in civil war-torn Liberia.
The beleaguered Catholic clergy and laity in the West African state have lost their Cathedral, radio station, diocesan offices and residences all ransacked and razed in the latest outbreak of violence in the conflict between two warlords who claim political legitimacy in their attempt to impose their own rule on the country.
However, the Catholic hospital in Monrovia is still standing and seven missionary priests and five foreign sisters remain. Michael Francis, Archbishop of Monrovia, has lived in Sierra Leone since the Cathedral was attacked last year and he was forced to flee to the safety of the American Embassy. Last week he visited Germany and Rome on a mission to draw attention to the plight of civilians in his country. In a visit to the German headquarters of Aid to the Church in Need, a charity which is still aLtive in the Liberian capital, Archbishop Francis urged world leaders to "exercise moral, diplomatic and economic pressure on the warring parties to respect basic human rights, disarm their troops and lead the country to free and fair local elections".
There has been evidence of ethnically-motivated violence in the war, as well as a propensity for both sides to use the conflict as a vehicle for looting and general lawlessness. In 1992, five sisters of the American Adorers of the Precious Blood Order were murdered.
The Herald tried to contact the Liberian Embassy in London this week, but there was no response.