Military helicopters began evacuating Americans and Europeans from Liberia’s besieged capital at dawn Monday, ferrying Westerners out of embassy compounds for a French ship waiting in the Atlantic. The evacuations came as Liberian soldiers reported more fighting on the western edge of the city, where rebels were trying to push into the capital to oust President Charles Taylor. Explosions sounded in the distance. The first helicopters took off from the white-walled, barbed-wire topped compound of the European Union. Aid agency workers, ducking against debris sent flying from the twirling blades, ran down a rocky hillside and climbed into French military Cougar helicopters. European Union forces stood guard with heavy weapons on the fern- and palm-overgrown hillside above the Atlantic Ocean, as helicopters spun off over the steel-gray Atlantic. “We can’t work, and we had to leave,” said Isabelle deBourning, of Medecins sans Frontieres (search), running for the helicopter. “I hope it will be quick.” A total of 91 international residents of Liberia were to be evacuated from the EU compound, said David Parker, acting head of the EU mission in Liberia. Full Story
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