A clash broke out Wednesday morning between Liberia's rebels and government troops in a suburb of the capital city Monrovia as UN peacekeeping forces were taking over the West African peacekeepers in the war-torn country, according to reports reaching here from Monrovia.

Local residents told reporters that shooting erupted when Sekou Konneh, the leader of Liberia's main rebel group -- the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) -- visited the area.

Konneh was said to have escaped from the gunfire and no casualties had been reported so far. The West African peacekeeper sunder the UN command sent to the West African state to end nearly 14 years of non-stop civil war were reportedly trying to restore order in the area.

The clash, described as the worst in Monrovia since former Liberia's president Charles Taylor flew into exile in Nigeria last August, occurred when civilians started throwing stones at Konneh's convoy as he headed towards a meeting with caretaker President Moses Blah.

The rebels who had guns inside their vehicles were reportedly exchanging fire with government soldiers.

It was Konneh's first visit to the capital Monrovia since the latest round of civil war in the West African country blew up more than three years ago.

The 14-year-long civil war in Liberia claimed at least 200,000 lives, flared up again in 1998 following attacks launched by the LURD rebels in northern Liberia.

The civil war over the past decade has made Liberia among the most miserable places in the world. 
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2003)