By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council extended a peacekeeping mission in Liberia on Friday for six months and asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to present a gradual troop withdrawal plan in June.
The U.N. peacekeeping force -- currently more than 15,000 troops -- was deployed in 2003 to help implement a cease-fire deal following Liberia's 14-year civil war that killed more than 200,000 people and drove more than a million from their homes.
In a report to the Security Council earlier this month, Ban asked that the force in the impoverished nation of 3.2 million be extended for 12 months. But the council, in a resolution adopted unanimously, only renewed the mandate until Sept. 30, 2007.
The council asked Ban to present "a detailed drawdown plan for the mission in his next report to the council scheduled for June," although it determined Liberia, despite its much admired new government, remains a threat to peace in the region.
The Security Council recognized that the West African country still faces significant challenges during its postwar transition, particularly in development and reconstruction, judiciary reform and development of security forces.
Ban agreed in his report, adding that Liberia's stability was also threatened "by the unemployed, including former combatants and deactivated security personnel" and that this was a serious concern.
"At the same time it is important to continue to pay attention to the potential external threats to peace and stability in Liberia," Ban said.
"In particular, the unpredictable situations in Ivory Coast and Guinea create an environment that poses additional challenges to efforts to build sustained stability in Liberia," he said.
The civil war ended in 2003 after President Charles Taylor fled into exile in Nigeria. Taylor was later turned over to a U.N. tribunal in Sierra Leone and is due to go on trial in June on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In 2005, Liberians elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf president, making her the first elected female head of state in Africa.
