Combatants Declare They Have Disbanded

Liberia’s three former warring factions jointly announced that they had disarmed and disbanded their forces.

The declaration came three days after a nationwide program to disarm ex-combatants officially ended with about 100,000 fighters laying down their arms, United Nations officials said.

The disbanded parties included the country’s two main rebel groups, as well as fighters and former army commanders once loyal to ex-President Charles Taylor, who was forced to accept a peace deal in August 2003 that exiled him to Nigeria as rebels bore down on the capital.