http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23597953.htmMONROVIA, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Thousands of civilians fled the sound of fresh fighting near Liberia's second city of Buchanan on Saturday as caretaker President Moses Blah sought to cement a peace deal to end 14 years of bloodshed.
Men carrying bundles on their heads and women with babies strapped to their backs streamed along the main road leading from the rebel-held port city to the West African country's capital Monrovia.
The refugees said they left their homes when gunfire and the thud of mortars echoed around an area some 80 km (50 miles) from Monrovia on Friday. snip
"There was terrible shooting. We could hear mortars. Boom, boom," said Benjamin Garkpley, walking empty-handed towards Harbel outside Monrovia.
Many Liberians want the peacekeepers to swiftly push out from Monrovia and secure the rest of the country.
"They told us that peace was coming, but there is no peace for us," screamed Jacalane Telor as she hurried along near Cotton Tree on Saturday. "Where is Ecomil?" (Additional reporting by Christo Johnson in Freetown, Saliou Samb in Conakry, Alphonso Toweh in Monrovia)
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