UN troops step up security in Monrovia after riots

Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers reinforced roadblocks and searched cars in Liberia's capital Monrovia today, seeking to restore…

Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers reinforced roadblocks and searched cars in Liberia's capital Monrovia today, seeking to restore order after two days of rioting by government soldiers that left nine dead.

The catalyst for the unrest was a UN disarmament programme launched on Sunday to cement an August peace deal meant to end 14 years of civil war in the West African country.

Scores of government militiamen took to the streets after learning that instead of the $300 they had been promised in return for their weapons they would get a first instalment of $150 only at the end of a three-week demobilisation programme.

The fighters -- many of them young men who have known little else in life than war and are used to grabbing what they want at gunpoint -- rampaged into the night in the capital yesterday, smashing and hijacking cars, and firing their weapons.

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Witnesses said nine people, including some civilians, were killed in clashes between peacekeepers and gunmen loyal to now-exiled former Liberian President Charles Taylor from groups known as "Wild Geese" and "Black Marine" yesterday.

The violence in the capital was the worst since fighting stopped there in August.

To help restore calm, the UN mission in Liberia announced yesterday fighters would now be given $75 immediately on handing their weapons to peacekeepers at the camp and the rest of the $300 later.