Some of them know Liberia well – Nigerian troops led the earlier mission between 1990 and 1998 by the Economic Community of West African States Armed Monitoring Group (Ecomog) Liberians have a bittersweet memory of that time. Nigerian troops saved lives, brought some stability and created the conditions for the 1997 elections that President Taylor won.”They were rough, so harsh,” said Patrick Tukuly, who lives near a Nigerian diplomatic residence. “They bought looted goods like car parts and household materials. And if your car stalled on the road, they would beat you unmercifully.” Then again, he said, it was different this time “We will be so happy to see them.

But we need the Americans too – their presence alone will discourage anyone from fighting.”. West african peace-keeping troops arrrived in Liberia today, welcomed by hundreds of people who hoisted a commander on their shoulders chanting “We want peace.”

West African peace-keeping troops arrrived in Liberia today, welcomed by hundreds of people who hoisted a commander on their shoulders chanting “We want peace.”
The task of the deployment, promised to build to 3,250-strong and be followed by a UN force: ending 14 years of carnage in this once prosperous nation and overseeing departure of warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor.Deploying in white UN helicopters in driving rain, the first Nigerian troops leapt out in camouflage and flak vests, machine guns at the ready. Crouching, soldiers took up defensive positions around Liberia’s main airport, well outside the embattled capital, Monrovia.Excited crowds waited at the edges, waving hand-lettered signs proclaiming “Peace at last.” As an armoured personnel carrier with mounted machine gun rolled off one flight, a throng of 200-300 people evaded security and poured onto the tarmac.Lifting a commander, Colonel Emeka Onwuama Egbu, to their shoulders, they chanted, “No more war! We want peace.”In Monrovia, the war-ruined capital, Liberians milled on the main road from the airport, eager for any sign of the troops.”I want to see them with my own eyes,” said Bangalu Wonwondor, a former farmer living as a refugee since 1999. I got teased for that.What do you like doing in your spare time?I paint and draw very badly. She dropped out of college when offers poured in from Hollywood and is now starring opposite Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush in Disney’s swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean.

A benediction, perhaps (as Peter Sellars termed it on BBC 4). Which leaves only Jurowski and the London Philharmonic; a team who bring depth, edge and nuance to this unloved score, lifting it from empty-headed banality with a piquant dose of paprika and garlic and underlining the Hungarian influence. So bravi to Lawless and conductor Vladimir Jurowski for making their Fledermaus so diverting while it lasted. Furthermore, I suspect that this is exactly the kind of champers-befuddled pan-Teutonic free-association that Stephen Lawless’s Glyndebourne production of Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus is hoping to provoke; the kind of response that will provide a dependably spicy sub-text of later political tensions to a mid-19th century farce of manners that is, in the cold light of day, devoid of resonance. Having committed themselves to terminal unshaggability with their Amish/ hillbilly facial hair, in any other walk of life, their Nebuchadnezzar neckwarmers would have committed themselves to lifelong virginity.

With the passing of time, though, Eliminator rocks like a mutha, and those bands don’t seem like the enemy any more (well, OK, Dire Straits are still the enemy).In retrospect, ZZ Top now seem like a less hip White Stripes (but almost as affecting on a gut, or perhaps that should be ass level): a minimalist blues-rock outfit who just roll up onstage with the minimum of fuss, and zero in the way of help (I don’t know what I expected – a 40 piece big band? – but it really is just the three of them).There is something almost physically irresistible about ZZ Top’s locomotive boogie, located somewhere in the interplay between Gibbons’ parched vocals and silvery, top-string riffing (on many songs, he’s soloing from the word go), and Hill’s deceptively casual basslines. Tonight, with berets jammed down over their brows, cheap sunglasses hiding their eyes and face-fuzz obscuring the rest of their features, they might have stepped out of any year in the last two decades (the only concession to modernity is a pair of holographic guitar straps). It was a stroke of genius, when you think about it Call it the Clive Dunn Factor, if you will. She’s that kind of girl – you can spot them a mile off – who’ll talk about themselves for hours. The live environment invigorates her and she blurs her boundaries with confidence.Avalanche is as intimate or dramatic as you want it to be.