First all-female UN peace force arrives in Liberia

United Nations, Jan 31: The first all-female U.N. peacekeeping unit, made up of 103 women from India, arrived in Liberia to help the West African nation recover from 14 years of on-and-off civil war.

The contingent, led by Commandant Seema Dhundia, is composed of three platoons of 30 women each plus 13 officers.

Working with a logistics unit of 22 men, it will be based at a camp in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, but be available for deployment anywhere in the country, the United Nations said.

War in the impoverished nation of 3.2 million people ended in 2003 after President Charles Taylor fled into exile in Nigeria. Taylor was later turned over to a U.N. tribunal in Sierra Leone and is due to go on trial in June on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Liberians a year ago chose Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as their president, making her Africa's first elected female head of state.

Reuters>