U.N. creates peacekeeping operation for Liberia

[Whoa_Nelly]

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 — The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved up to 15,000 peacekeepers for Liberia on Friday to help rebuild the country and stop marauding militias from robbing and raping.

The U.S.-drafted resolution creating the new operation would also include 250 military observers, 160 staff officers and 1,115 international police. It would integrate some of the West African soldiers there now into the U.N. force by Oct. 1.

The 15-member council created the mandate for a year, subject to renewal. But the force is expected to take 3-4 months to get on the ground.

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''The general consensus is that this is a failed state,'' Jacques Paul Klein, the chief U.N. envoy for Liberia, said earlier in the week. ''Now we have to rebuild the state.''

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