While over twenty years of fighting have killed over 200,000 people and driven even more into exile, not all Liberians are ready for peace. Half a million of the 3.2 million population have fled their homes, and gone to other parts of the country. There is still fighting between "government" and "rebel" factions. In reality, this violence is largely the result of marauding bands of armed men fighting over loot or access to areas that might have something to steal. 

The rebels have promised to start disarming once the interim government (which has rebel members) is sworn in. But this will be difficult as the rebel (and government) want to know how they will be fed.

So far, some 4,000 of the 15,000 peacekeepers have arrived and not gone much beyond the two largest towns on the coast.