Thousands flee as fighting shatters ceasefire

REBELS took control of a key bridge at Liberia’s capital yesterday in fighting that shattered a day-old ceasefire, sending thousands of families fleeing in a city desperately short of food, water and shelter.

Separately, West African foreign ministers meeting in Dakar, Senegal promised to deploy two Nigerian battalions to Liberia within days a vanguard of what ministers said should be a 3,250-strong international force to bring peace to the devastated nation.

Explosions boomed in the capital, Monrovia yesterday, one day after rebel leaders announced a unilateral ceasefire. "This morning we're still under attack," Defence Minister Daniel Chea said after a night of shelling and gunfire. "It's still raining round after round of mortars."