Peacekeeping head leaves Liberia

Crowds of Liberians gathered at Monrovia airport on Saturday to bid farewell to the departing head of the ECOMOG intervention force, Major-General Victor Malu.

General Malu said he was sad to be leaving Liberia because he had not been given the chance to complete his peacekeeping mission.

Correspondents say General Malu's relations with the Liberian President, Charles Taylor, were strained over accusations that Mr Taylor was rearming his supporters and factionalising the national army.

ECOMOG forces are mandated to withdraw from Liberia in February, more than seven years after their first deployment there at the height of the civil war.

They will continue to operate in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

General Malu will be replaced by another Nigerian army officer, General Timothy Shelpidi.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service