Liberia welcomes historic female peacekeeper unit

MONROVIA, Jan 31 (Reuters) Long-terrorised by male warlords and drug-crazed boy soldiers, Liberia has Africa's first elected female president -- and now the world's first all-woman UN peacekeeping unit.

The contingent of 110 female Indian police, in blue camouflage uniforms and helmets, touched down at Roberts International airport outside the Liberian capital Monrovia yesterday to a VIP reception.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, nicknamed the ''Iron Lady'', won landmark 2005 elections in the wake of a brutal 14-year civil war, and has since worked to reconstruct the shattered nation and promote women's rights in the patriarchal society.

''The arrival today of the all-female FPU (Formed Police Unit) from India is an extra boost to our policing efforts here in Liberia,'' Mohammed Alhassan, police commander for the United Nations' 15,000-strong mission, said at the ceremony.

Before Tuesday's arrival, there were just 82 women in the UN police mission in Liberia from Nepal, Nigeria and Jordan, Alhassan said.

The female police unit, to be based in Monrovia, will be used to combat a rising crime wave, control riots and carry out training in the police academy. Its commandant, Seema Dhundia, said the contingent's morale was high.

''The troops are very experienced. They have served in various parts of our own country when the situation was very bad,'' she said. ''They are trained and I know they will perform well out here.'' Johnson-Sirleaf, a veteran advocate of women's rights in Africa, has pledged to set an example even to developed countries for the participation of women in public life.

Strong women have carved a niche in Africa's oldest republic, founded in 1847 by freed American slaves. Some of the most feared fighters during Liberia's 1989-2003 civil war were women, including former-prostitute turned commander Black Diamond.

The conflict killed more than 200,000 people and rape was a frequent weapon of war used by all factions. Sexual abuse remains rife nearly four years after the conflict ended.

REUTERS BDP KP1923