UN approves force for Liberia

Earlier several civilians were injured in shelling while seeking supplies

The UN Security Council has authorised a multinational force to help implement a ceasefire in Liberia.

A Nigerian-led West African force is due to be airlifted into the capital, Monrovia, starting on Monday - it is expected to be replaced by an international force by 1 October.

US warships have already been sent to take up positions off the Liberian coast, but the American-drafted resolution makes no mention of any participation by US troops.

The UN move comes as West African envoys are hoping to meet the Liberian President, Charles Taylor, in Monrovia, after their expected meeting with him on Friday failed to materialise.

The envoys, from the regional grouping Ecowas, had gone to Liberia to discuss Monday's deployment and to obtain final assurances that Mr Taylor would leave the country.

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But they had to spend a night in the country after being told that Mr Taylor was in the southern port of Buchanan - Liberia's second city - directing fighting against rebels there.

The BBC's Paul Welsh in Monrovia says it is not clear whether Mr Taylor is indeed absent or if he is just refusing to meet the delegation.

Objections

Friday's unscheduled UN meeting was called by American ambassador, John Negroponte.

France, Germany and Mexico abstained in the vote because they objected to a clause in the resolution which exempts participating US troops from scrutiny by the International Criminal Court.

Click below to see an interactive aerial image of Monrovia Monrovia from the air

The US has said it wants the force being assembled by Ecowas to take the lead, with the United States providing support.

Under the new UN resolution, the multinational force is tasked with implementing a 17 July ceasefire between the government and rebel groups which has been repeatedly broken.

The resolution also calls for a longer-term stabilisation force to eventually relieve the multinational force.

This should be in place by 1 October, a deadline UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has acknowledged may prove hard to meet.

But Mr Annan welcomed the vote.

"I hope this implies a new political will, a will that, I think, has been absent among the international community," he said.

"Now that this resolution is passed, I hope we will move ahead with urgent and determined action to help the Liberian people."

The resolution also calls for the president, Charles Taylor, to go into exile next week as he has agreed.

Renewed fighting

Nigeria has offered asylum to Mr Taylor - who faces war crimes charges in the United Nations-backed tribunal for Sierra Leone.

West African leaders want Mr Taylor to leave, as promised, three days after the first 1,500 Nigerian troops arrive.

Click below to see a map of key places and rebel offensives

Enlarge Map

Hours before the Ecowas delegation arrived on Friday, renewed fighting broke out in Monrovia, with at least nine people, including four children, killed by shelling near one of two key bridges leading to the city centre.

Monrovia had been relatively calm since a Nigerian-led military fact-finding team arrived on Wednesday night.

But on Friday, several shells landed in the diplomatic area of Mamba Point and rebels and government fighters exchanged fire around the two key bridges.

The BBC's Barnaby Philips in Monrovia says crowds of people who had emerged from shelter to seek water, food and medicine ran for cover as the shells landed.