U.N. peacekeeping troops fired warning shots and used
armored vehicles to seal off an area of the Paynesville suburb
where gangs of Christian and Muslim youths armed with sticks
and knives fought running battles in the streets.
Witnesses said some of the Muslim youths were carrying
AK-47 rifles. Sporadic shots could be heard as residents fled,
raising their hands above their heads as they ran to show they
were unarmed.
One man was carried away from the fray bleeding from a
wound in his neck. The cause of the clashes was not immediately
clear.
Religious strife has been relatively uncommon in Liberia (news - web sites),
where battle lines during almost 14 years of civil war have
traditionally been drawn along loose ethnic or regional lines.
The riots happened on the Oct. 31 cut-off-date for a U.N.
disarmament program for tens of thousands of former fighters
from two rebel groups and loyalist militias which started in
earnest in April.
At least seven people were killed in similar clashes on
Friday in the coastal capital of the West African country of
roughly three million people.
The rioting youths emerged in defiance of a curfew imposed
after the rioting on Friday, when mosques and churches were
burned before U.N. troops deployed to restore order.
On Sunday, witnesses said Ghanaian and Nigerian
peacekeepers arrested about 80 men, forcing them to lie on the
ground after searching a house and finding weapons inside.
Other young men were arrested carrying petrol bombs.
The troops form part of a 15,000-strong peacekeeping
contingent, the world's largest, sent to oversee a peace deal
signed last year to end the civil war.
African Union Commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare issued
a statement condemning the violence.
"He is particularly disturbed at the fact that this
development has come just before the scheduled end of the
disarmament process," the statement said.
The U.N. mission said on Sept. 15 it had disarmed 76,560
Liberian ex-combatants, a number which has increased since
then. However, some rebels said last month there was little
chance all their weapons would be handed in by Sunday's
deadline.
Liberia is struggling to emerge from a conflict which has
crippled the economy, creating an explosive mix of hundreds of
thousands of jobless youths and relatively easy access to guns.
About 20 percent of Liberia's population is Muslim, 40
percent Christian and 40 percent follow animist beliefs.
(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Braun)
