As ever, it signalled only a brief pause in hostilities."They say ceasefire, but keep fighting," said Eric Zinnah, whose uncle died in the church. "Since this war started it is us people, not the soldiers, that are being killed."In an upstairs room, six men gathered around a table in prayer, led by a minister. "Let trouble break out among the Lurd rebels! Let fire destroy all their supporters! For they have brought continual bloodshed to our land!" he yelled, making frantic hand gestures. At every invocation the worshippers replied "Amen!" Yesterday was Independence Day, marking Liberia's foundation by freed American slaves in 1847. But there was little to celebrate."We're not even thinking about it We just want this war to be over.
Charles Taylor, the Lurd let them all get out of our sight," said Emmanuel Harris.President Taylor attended a prayer rally at the Samuel K Doe stadium, where about 30,000 people were sheltering under the stands. Mr Taylor said more than 1,000 people had been killed during the latest rebel attacks on the capital. It could be his last public appearance if he sticks by his pledge to leave office once peace-keepers arrive. Mr Taylor said that either Vice-President Moses Blah or House Speaker Nyudueh Morkonmana would replace him.A contingent of 770 Nigerian peace-keepers, due to be deployed in the coming days, may speed the president's departure. But among war-weary Liberians patience is starting to wear thin."They are always coming 'one week' from now.
But if they don't want to help, then just leave us on our own. And we will turn to God," said George Bestman.The humanitarian situation continues to slide rapidly. With Lurd rebels controlling the port area, food, water and medical supplies are running dangerously low.On the Atlantic shore, sand has acquired a new value. It fills sandbags that protect against the hail of stray bullets zipping through the streets.And it offers a quick way of dealing with the dead in the past week, aid workers have buried more than 100 people on the beach.. It sat on millions owed to its customers, used its monopoly to stifle competition and staged a "dirty tricks campaign" to win back business.
Just last week, telecoms regulator Oftel opened a fresh investigation into claims that BT had misused confidential customer information to stop people defecting to rival firms.As BT prepares to present its first-quarter results on Thursday, there are real concerns that the group is damaging competition in the UK."BT is increasingly testing the boundaries of the regulations. It is very good at denying, delaying and degrading," says Richard Sweet, head of regulation at rival telecoms company Thus.Huw Saunders, group regulatory affairs director at Kingston Communications, adds: "We ... have concerns about BT's increasing commercial aggression and arguably anti-competitive behav- iour. This could do much to undo 18 years of regulatory effort to increase competition.""Teaching BT to behave in the interests of competition is like training a lion not to roar.