Liberia's hungry capital reunited after battle

MONROVIA - Tens of thousands of famished Liberians swept across Monrovia bridges in search of food and family on Friday as rebel fighters released their month-long grip so the capital could be reunited.

The first ship carrying food after weeks of clashes docked with high-energy biscuits and other supplies from the United Nations World Food Programme. A US plane brought more aid.

With wheelbarrows, pots and plastic bags, the hungry crowds surged towards the port area, where West African peacekeepers were deployed with the help of US Marines on Thursday as rebels pulled back beyond the outskirts.

Most of Monrovia's aid stocks were in the port when rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) grabbed it last month in the most ferocious of a series of attacks since June that left some 2000 people dead.

Food looted from the port is now on sale cheap on what was the rebel side of the front line.

Setting off with five gallons of sugarcane juice, Rufus Gaye said he hoped to trade it for three bags of rice.

"My children have been hungry for two weeks," said the father of seven, among hundreds of thousands of people driven into refuge by the fighting. Some others set off with bundles of belongings to return to homes they had fled.

With their mission to overthrow pariah leader Charles Taylor accomplished after he flew into exile on Monday, the rebels agreed to pull back to give a chance to talks on ending strife that has racked Liberia for 14 years and poisoned the region.

"I think the process of healing of Liberia must begin now," said newly arrived UN envoy Jacques Paul Klein, a veteran American diplomat and retired US Air Force major-general.

"The war, the fighting, the killing, the human rights abuses of the past, I don't think we must ever again allow those to occur here," Klein told reporters, warning the rebels that they could also be held accountable for crimes.

A few rebels hung back in Monrovia on Friday. Fighter Omar Shirif said loyalist militiamen crept into former rebel areas overnight and harassed civilians.

Government forces also loitered near the city centre, despite promises to pull back once the rebels did.

Leaders of two rebel factions first met President Moses Blah in Ghana on Thursday, but there was little sign of the quick breakthrough regional leaders had been hoping would lead to a full peace deal by the weekend.

"All the warring parties are together and we're making progress," the leader of the main rebel group Sekou Conneh told Reuters on Friday. "We're trying to allocate (government) slots to the three parties -- that's crucial."

But another rebel delegate said they were still unhappy with a regional proposal that warring factions could hold none of the top four jobs in a transition government to lead Liberia for two years once Blah steps down in mid-October.

Founded by freed slaves from America in the 19th century, Liberia has become a byword for instability and destruction, its war dragging down neighbouring Sierra Leone and regional economic powerhouse Ivory Coast.

The United States, which has traditionally had close links with Monrovia, has warships waiting offshore and on Thursday deployed over 100 Marines at the city's airport ready to back up the Nigerian peacekeepers in case of trouble.

Other Marines joined the West Africans as they moved into the port, while US helicopters and jets patrolled overhead.

"So far we're finding it a very friendly environment," said Marine Gunnery Sergeant Mark Bradley.

- REUTERS