Liberia: UN troops move further into rebel-held territory

United Nations peacekeepers today moved further into parts of Liberia that had been held by two different rebel groups in the war-ravaged country.

Abou Moussa, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Liberia, confirmed that an advance team of UN troops from Bangladesh arrived today and fully deployed in the port city of Buchanan, a stronghold of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).

Another battalion of UN peacekeepers deployed successfully in Gbarnga, which had been controlled by the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). The UN forces collected weapons from ex-combatants on their way to that site.

According to the envoy, a further UN force of Pakistani peacekeepers is en route to the LURD-held city of Tubmanburg.