Peacekeepers roll up to Liberia's second city

BUCHANAN, Liberia - Truck loads of Peacekeepers thundered through deserted Liberian villages haunted by unruly fighters on Saturday 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 12km from the city itself.

"We are praying for them to come into town. The rebels are looting and harassing people. There is sporadic shooting," said Albert Samuel, a Methodist minister inside Buchanan.

"We won't feel safe until we see our Ecomil brothers in town."

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 120km 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 UN 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.

"Taylor got us into this mess and now he's left and gone, I'm tired of fighting. I don't want to be a soldier all my life," said Martin Chea, a fighter at the last loyalist checkpoint before the no man's land of tangled bush.

- REUTERS