Rebel commander "under preliminary investigation"

One of the alleged leaders of rebels fighting government forces in Lofa County, north-western Liberia, has been handed over to the authorities in Monrovia, news organisations and Liberian officials have reported.

"His name is Roland Baygboe, a former soldier of the Armed Forces of Liberia and a key commander of Ulimo-K," Information Minister Joe Mulbah told IRIN on Wednesday. Ulimo-K, led by Alhaji Kromah, was one of the factions that fought in Liberia's seven-year civil war.

However, a Defence Ministry spokesman, Philibert Browne, told IRIN on Wednesday that Baygboe had stated, in a testimony written since his capture, that he had been a member of another former faction, Ulimo-J.

Mulbah said the prisoner of war was "under preliminary investigation," in the capital, but he was not able to give details of where he had been captured or by whom.

According to a report broadcast on Wednesday by President Charles Taylor's private radio station, Baygboe was arrested in Voinjama. However Browne said that, according to his "testimony", he had been captured in Guinea and handed over to the Liberian army.

Liberia had accused Guinea of supporting the dissidents' incursion, but Conakry had consistently denied the allegation.

The rebels launched their insurgency in the northwest about two weeks ago and went on to capture about five localities which have since been retaken, according to the government. Mulbah said a "mopping-up operation" was continuing in the suburbs of Voinjama.