United Nations peacekeepers extended their deployment to Liberia's western border with Sierra Leone at the weekend. Namibian troops deployed to three towns lying on the main road from Monrovia to the Sierra Leone border.

The presence of the UN troops inspired a group of over 500 Liberians to spontaneously return on the 21st, in self-organized convoys through the Liberia-Sierra Leone border town of Bo Waterside. They made their way into a UNHCR assisted camp for the internally displaced persons.

Meanwhile, Liberia's Human Rights Commission accused forces loyal to ex-president Charles Taylor of killing more than 360 civilians (including babies, children and pregnant women) in a massacre in April 2003. - Adam Geibel