Three killed in Monrovia shootout as UNMIL takes over

Three people were killed in a shootout between government troops and rebel fighters in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Wednesday as the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) commenced its peacekeeping mandate in the war-ravaged country. UNMIL was approved by the UN Security Council on 19 September to replace the much smaller West African force (ECOMIL) from 1 October. The 3,500 ECOMIL troops were officially inducted into UNMIL on Wednesday afternoon at a ceremony held at the Roberts International airport. They donned blue helmets to form the vanguard of a 15,000-strong UN force to be deployed within three months. The West African peacekeepers are from Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. They have been deployed in the capital, Monrovia and other parts of northern Liberia including Bong and Margibi counties. UN officials in Liberia and foreign diplomats witnessed the handover of the ECOMIL guard to UNMIL. A Nigerian band played music as the newly appointed UNMIL Force Commander, General Daniel Opande received the troops from Nigerian ECOMIL Commander Brigadier Festus Okonkwo. The Representative of the UN Secretary General to Liberia, Jacques Klein, told reporters at the airport that 15 countries had expressed interest in contributing troops to UNMIL. These included Ethiopia, Ireland, Namibia, Morocco and some European countries. "We will get the troops that can do the job," Klein said. Klein added that 1,100 international policemen had signed up to join the UN mission to come to Liberia to retrain and restructure the country's security and police system. The shooting in Monrovia's eastern suburb occurred as the chairman of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), Sekou Damate Conneh, was being escorted in a 35-vehicle convoy to meet Liberia's Interim President Moses Blah. Conneh returned from exile in neighbouring Guinea last week to his rebel stronghold of Tubmanburg in the western Bomi county. He declared that the LURD had stopped fighting and promised to drive to Monrovia this week to meet Blah. Witnesses told IRIN a crowd in the eastern Gardnersville suburb confronted the convoy, blocking its movement. In an attempt to clear the road, the rebels were confronted by government troops. "An angry crowd met the convoy in the government-controlled Gardnersville. LURD started to clear the way but firing broke out. Government soldiers from nearby Congo town joined in, shooting in the air," Edwin Snow, the government official who had brokered talks between Conneh and Blah said. Conneh turned round and drove back to Tubmanburg without meeting Blah. LURD Secretary General Sekou Fofanah later told IRIN, the rebels would issue a statement on the incident later. "ECOMIL (West African peacekeepers) arrived at the scene in armoured cars and calmed down the situation," Snow told IRIN in Monrovia. "I regret the incident but we will continue the talks between LURD and government." During the skirmishes the rebels looted a vehicle belonging to the World Heath Organisation. Omar Khatib, WHO representative in Liberia told IRIN that the 4-wheel was returning staff from Gbarpolu when it was commandeered by LURD fighters around the Po River, 17 km west of Monrovia. WHO staff on board, who had been visiting a clinic, were ordered by the rebels to walk to Monrovia, Khatib said