- Title: LIBERIA: PEACE KEEPING FORCES ARRIVE IN BUCHANAN
- Date: 13th September 2003
- Summary: (W1) BUCHANAN, LIBERIA (SEPTEMBER 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PEACEKEEPING FORCES IN TRUCKS EN ROUTE TO BUCHANAN 0.04 2. WIDE OF PEACEKEEPING CONVOY STOPS ON ROAD 0.07 3. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) UNNAMED GHANAIN TROOP COMMANDER SAYING: "If they see someone is attacking you that's not true. That's not true. Ok. We are here with you." 0.13
- Embargoed: 28th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BUCHANAN DISTRICT, LIBERIA
- Country: Liberia
- Reuters ID: LVACQ5WYTDOYHF8FU6J2VSQJ65VN
- Story Text: Peacekeepers race through deserted Liberian
villages to deploy at the rebel-held second city of Buchanan.
Truck loads of peacekeepers thundered through
deserted Liberian villages haunted by unruly fighters on
Saturday (September 13) to deploy at the threshold of the
anguished rebel-held second city of Buchanan.
A month after pariah leader Charles Taylor's flight
into exile raised hopes of an end to nearly 14 years of
mayhem, West African peacekeepers have this week started to
fan out from the capital Monrovia into a land where gunmen
hold sway.
The Ecomil force had tried to negotiate with the rebel
faction known as Model to move into Buchanan and its port,
but was refused permission to deploy further than a bridge
some 12 km (7.5 miles) from the city itself.
Aid workers say that inside the city are at least
30,000 refugees, who have had almost no outside help
because humanitarian agencies are unsure of security.
Buchanan is about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Monrovia.
Malnutrition is a growing problem and cholera is
spreading. The dumping of bodies in wells used for drinking
water has added to the health risks in the once-thriving
timber port.
Model rebels and the larger Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) faction have signed a
peace deal with Taylor's chosen successors.
But sporadic skirmishing has continued between rebels
and loyalist militias acting on murky orders.
The 550 troops from Nigeria, Benin and Togo drove down
the road towards Buchanan through a shattered landscape on
Saturday.
Elsewhere, people have turned out to cheer them. Here,
there were only a few civilians left to celebrate.
The frontline is unclear and loyalists are barely
possible to tell from the rebels -- mixing the same scraps
of combat gear, sports clothes and uniquely Liberian
touches like women's wigs.
Fighters on both sides danced and cheered as the
peacekeepers moved through their makeshift checkpoints with
a message that the war was over.
A U.N. force is due to arrive in coming months to carry
out disarmament. A transition government will take office
in one month to start work on reconstruction and preparing
for elections in two years.
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