MONROVIA: Liberian rebels lifted the siege of Monrovia and withdrew from the city after a display of US military might bolstered the West African peacekeepers and opened the port to badly needed humanitarian aid. Thousands of people danced and sang as American marines and the Nigerian-led west African troops took over the port and bridges which had split the capital into government and rebel-held zones.

Although little more than 200 marines were deployed, most of them at the airport, they constitute Washington’s biggest peacekeeping operation in Africa since the Somalia debacle a decade ago.

They were supported by Cobra attack helicopters and Harrier jets streaking at roof-level across the city. If that was intended to awe the warring sides, it worked. Ducking from the noise, fighters on both sides waved and cheered, knowing the flying hardware was a small fraction of the firepower available to the US flotilla offshore.

“I’m so happy to see the Americans landing on my soil. It is a dream. They are our mother and father,” said Jebah Babai, 23, part of a throng who watched three CH-46 helicopters disgorge 60 marines and two jeeps.

In full combat gear and carrying light machine guns across a muddy field, the marines seemed surprised to be greeted by civilians blowing kisses. “Not what I expected,” said one.

Having promised to help a country founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves, President Bush has been cautioned by the Pentagon about launching another foreign military adventure.

Some Liberians grumbled that Friday’s deployment was too little. After two months of siege Monrovia’s 1.3 million people are close to starvation. Beyond the capital, the crisis is feared to be wors.

The civil war of the past three years is supposed to end now that Charles Taylor is out of the presidency and in exile. Fighting between government forces and the rebel group Model continues elsewhere in the country but the bigger Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy has maintained a ceasefire and its promise to end its stranglehold on Monrovia.

A convoy of trucks, cars and motorbikes streamed towards new positions at the Po river 13 kilometres outside the city, allowing the Nigerians and Americans to take the port.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service