With only 4,500 peacekeepers on hand, the civil war, or at least civil disorder, continues outside the capital. Only a few hundred peacekeepers are operating outside the capital. There are supposed to be 15,000 peacekeepers on hand by early, 2004. Meanwhile, aid organizations fear operating outside areas protected by peacekeepers. This is because rebels and government troops tend to steal foreign aid, particularly food, before it can be distributed. Rebels, government troops and bandits continue to rape and pillage, as well as fight with each other over loot.
Since food aid has not gotten through to some interior areas for months, some rebels and government troops are enslaving local civilians and forcing them to grow crops for the gunmen. Over a million civilians have fled this sort of thing, heading to neighboring countries or Liberia's capital, where peacekeepers guard several large refugee camps.
