Sad sojourn for festive peacekeepers

John Breslin visits Camp Clara in Liberia where 429 Irish UN troops will spend Christmas.

AGROUP of Irishmen and women will spend Christmas in the tropics, in what was once a holiday village for the well-heeled on a seaside peninsula with a sweeping sandy beach and spectacular views across the ocean.

But the chalets that housed this country’s elite were stripped bare by looters, the old luxury Hotel Africa guarding the entrance to the outcrop is a wrecked shell frequented by ladies of the night, and swimming in the heavily polluted sea is strictly prohibited.