August 5, 1990: US Marines sweep into Monrovia
US Marines sweep into Liberia’s war-torn capital of Monrovia by helicopter to begin evacuating Americans after a rebel leader had threatened to start arresting them and other foreigners. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that 225 Marines had gone ashore from four ships to remove US citizens from the American embassy and from two communications sites. They encountered no resistance and will stay as long as they are needed to secure the embassy and to complete the rescue operation. US does not intend to intervene in the bloody civil war in Liberia, Fitzwater said. Four US ships are standing by to receive the evacuated Americans. At the Pentagon, officials said about 60 Americans already had been removed from Monrovia in the rescue operation. There are about 70 Americans at the US embassy and an estimated 300 other Americans in the country. “The Marines will remain in Liberia as long as necessary to ensure the safety of US citizens in that country,” Fitzwater said.
Other major events
1772 Rulers of Russia, Prussia and Austria sign the first of three partitions ending Poland’s sovereign rule until 1918.
1861 US federal government levies an income-tax for the first time.
1949 Earthquake in Ecuador kills 6,000.
1953 Operation Big Switch takes place In Panmunjom, Korea, towards the end of the Korean War.
1962 African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela is arrested.
1963 US, Britain and Soviet Union sign a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in atmosphere, space and under water.
1965 New Zealand grants the South Pacific Cook Islands self-government.
1977 Ten family members of the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie escape from house arrest in Addis Ababa and reach Sweden.
1984 A Bangladesh airliner crashes in heavy rain while landing at Dhaka’s Zia international airport killing all 49 passengers
1991 Soviet phenomenon Sergei Bubka breaks his own pole vault world record at Malmo, Sweden.
1992 Nelson Mandela leads 100,000 blacks in Pretoria in a protest to end white rule.
1994 Nato jets attack Serbs near Sarajevo after they seized a tank and other weapons from a UN depot and fired on a UN helicopter.
1995 US and Vietnam formally establish diplomatic ties.
1996 US President Bill Clinton signs a bill to punish businesses that invest in Iran and Libya.
1999 Dubai’s newest theme park, Wild Wadi, next to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, opens.
2000 Dubai Millennium retires after suffering a severe fracture of his right hind leg.
2003 A huge car bomb tear through one of the top hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 14 people in the second major attack.
2006 The Taiwanese government breaks off diplomatic relations with Chad.
2008 Netherlands’ striker Ruud van Nistelrooy retires from international football.
2009 87 people are missing after a ferry boat flipped near the Pacific Ocean within the borders of Tonga.
2012 Nasa’s Curiosity rover lands on Mars.
2013 A Turkish court sentences a former military commander General Ilker Basbug to life in prison.
2014 Spanish midfielder Xavi Hernandez announces his retirement from international football.
