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Liberia: peacekeepers patrol capital, UN relief envoy heads to the region

8 August – As war-weary civilians lined the streets of Monrovia to cheer West African peacekeepers at last patrolling the Liberian capital's devastated city centre, a top United Nations relief official is on her way to the country to help strengthen the world body's response to the deepening humanitarian crisis.

Carolyn McAskie, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, is travelling today on a mission to strengthen UN relief efforts in Liberia, where two months of almost continuous fighting in and around Monrovia between government and rebel forces has wrecked the city, killed hundreds and stranded thousands of others on the streets without clean water, food, and proper sanitation.

The UN Security Coordinator's Office has dispatched a security assessment mission to Monrovia today. When security conditions allow, Ms. McAskie will head into the city to meet with representatives of UN agencies, humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donor governments to discuss how best to respond to urgent humanitarian needs in Liberia.

On Tuesday, UN agencies and their NGO partners launched a revised appeal for some $69 million in emergency aid to stop the civil war that Ms. McAskie and other officials described as "a human catastrophe of horrific proportions."

The appeal, covering July through December, presents a three-phase plan of action - each closely tied to the prevailing security situation - and includes mine action, food delivery, refugee protection and return, shelter and other needed elements such as communications.

Meanwhile on the peacekeeping front, the Nigerian battalion - the vanguard West African peacekeeping force in Liberia - yesterday patrolled the Monrovia city centre to an overwhelmingly warm reception from the community.

Today, the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) airlifted 120 more Nigerian soldiers to Monrovia, bringing to nearly 90 per cent the deployment of the first Nigerian battalion of some 770 troops. In addition, two armoured personnel carriers (APCs), four land rovers, one water tanker, a truck, three tons of ammunition and rations were sent into Monrovia today.