Troops to the Rescue

ISSOUF SANAGO/AFP

Teenage rebel fighters in Ivory Coast

IVORY COAST International peacekeepers arrived in the western town of Zouan-Hounien to enforce a cease-fire agreed by government and rebel forces at the beginning of May. The French and West African troops were greeted by children — some wearing women's wigs — firing AK-47s into the air. The western region has seen brutal fighting since an armed rebellion split the country in two eight months ago. Ivorian rebels, many of them children, have engaged in recent weeks in pitched battles with mercenaries from neighboring Liberia. — By Kate Davenport/Zouan-Hounien

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