After two days of delays because of bad weather at the airport outside the capital, the second battalion of Nigerian peacekeepers arrived today. This puts about 2,000 peacekeepers (including nearly 300 American troops) in the country, versus more than 20,000 ill-disciplined government and rebel troops around the capital and elsewhere in the country. In addition, there are about as many less-organized men with guns in Liberia. LURD rebels have withdrawn from the capital, but they also control, or at least are the strongest armed group, in about half the country. MODEL rebels hold the nations second port, Buchanan, which is some 120 kilometers southeast of the capital.
Peace talks continue in Ghana, but not much progress. There is general agreement that a new government will be selected in October. But there is no agreement on who will be in that government or how it will be put together.