Fighting reported in north Liberia

MONROVIA - Fresh fighting has broken out between government forces and Liberia's smaller rebel group in the north of the West African nation, military officials said on Monday.

"This fighting has led to the burning of towns and homes in areas like Gray, Zuatuo and other towns," an official, who declined to be named, said. "This is very serious and we have informed the United Nations about this incident."

The official said the fighting involved government forces and rebels of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL).

The reports of the fighting deal a blow to a fledgling peace process aimed at drawing a line under 14 years of war in a nation founded more than 150 years ago by freed American slaves.

It also highlights the challenges of bringing peace to the country's lawless interior, where armed fighters with a record of murder, rape and pillage roam far from United Nations peacekeepers deployed in the coastal capital Monrovia.

"We have received information about fighting in that area and we are concerned about this. On Sunday, a team went to Nimba in a helicopter to find out what the situation was like," a UN official, who declined to be named, said.

"We saw some areas on fire, but we will go there later today," the official said.

No deaths have been reported so far.

- REUTERS