Rome, Aug 03: The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has begun an aid airlift to the war-torn Liberian capital Monrovia, whose inhabitants are running short of food, the WFP announced today. Half a tonne of nutritional biscuits arrived yesterday, with 11.5 tonnes due to arrive in coming days, the WFP said.
Rebels from the LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) have been besieging Monrovia for weeks, battling with President Charles Taylor's loyalist forces.
West African peacekeepers are due for deployment on Monday, but fighting has continued nonetheless.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed, with thousands more fleeing from the country.

"This is the first time since the latest war began that the WFP is able to distribute food in Monrovia, which will help us save the lives of thousands of under-nourished people," said the WFP's West African Regional Director, Manuel Aranda Da Silva.
The aid is meant for the internally displaced refugees near the city's airport and the city's hospitals.
"The airlift is an expensive operation, but we have no choice. This is a temporary measure because we cannot transport enough for everyone like this. We need access to our warehouses," Da Silva continued.
The WFP has 10,000 tonnes of food stocked in Monrovia, but because of the war, could not send it to the warehouses since mid-July.
Efforts to get the rebels and Taylor to accept an overland humanitarian aid corridor have so far failed.
Bureau Report