Rebels have seized a stunning 60 percent of Liberia, including most of its diamond-mining areas, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan quoted as saying by a foreign news agency on Saturday. The impoverished West African nation of 3 million people has also acknowledged importing arms and ammunition, despite a U.N. arms embargo, in response to rebel offensives, Annan said in his latest report to the U.N. Security Council. The rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD, has been fighting to oust President Charles Taylor on and off for the past three years.
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