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300 Liberia evacuees docks in Freetown

FREETOWN: A U.N. chartered boat docked in Freetown on Sunday with about 300 people, mostly Lebanese, fleeing a week of tribal militia killings and looting in the Liberian capital Monrovia, witnesses said.

Passengers on the Ghanaian boat, chartered by the U.N. World Food Programme, included many United Nations workers and staff of non-governmental organisations.

It was the first substantive sea evacuation from Monrovia since violence erupted in the city on April 6, prompting the United States to mount a massive military operation to airlift its citizens and other foreigners.

U.S. spokesmen say over 1,500 people of more than 60 nationalities had been airlifted in military helicopters to Freetown, Sierra Leone and then sent on to Dakar, Senegal.-Reuter