The sisters-in-arms of Liberia's war

"Men are stronger than women, but we shoot straighter and are more disciplined," says Ms. Teah, who keeps a loaded .38-caliber colt in her jeans and an AK-47 close at hand. "The same thing the men do here, the women do."

Indeed, many of LURD's male soldiers positively cower in the face of the women fighters, especially Black Diamond. She lived in the lumberyard house with her husband, a commander named Colonel Yankee, before retreating with LURD to a new headquarters 40 miles away. They say the thin, 5-foot-6-inch woman could carry a 110-pound bag of rice tossed over her shoulder with ease.

With the exception of a few commanders, most members of the women's unit are young, and in their first war. But they are as battle hardened as their young male companions, although some civilians say they are also more merciful.

Members of LURD's women's unit have fought and died on the front line and helped barrage the government with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. Like the men, they brag about the numbers they've killed and the wounds they received in battle.

Captain Gabolee tosses back her yellow braids and pulls up her flared jeans to reveal an ugly battle scar that contrasts with her brightly painted toenails and strappy sandals. Another girl, a 14-year-old called Baby Girl for her round, innocent face, displays the bullet holes in her back and leg with pride.

"The women are slower to train, but when they are trained, they are even more brave than the men," says Col. Martin Collins, a senior officer in LURD. "They are not as strong, but they are good fighters."

While the women may fight alongside the men, their commanders hold them to a different standard of behavior. According to civilians living nearby, the women rarely drank, smoked, or used drugs. And although in many wars women and women soldiers are forced to have sex with the male soldiers, LURD's fighting women shunned such relationships.

"Why would I want to do that?" asked Captain Gabolee, when asked if she had a boyfriend among the male soldiers. "I don't have time for that. I have a mission."

That mission was to bring down Liberian President Charles Taylor, who went into exile on Aug. 11. LURD women, like the men, blame Taylor for the chaos of the past 14 years, and believe their ethnic group, the Mandingo, have been excluded from Liberian politics. For some of the women, like Musu Dukley, the fight is personal. Her husband, she says, died at the hands of government soldiers two years ago.

Hoping the war is over, Black Diamond and her women are looking forward to peace. Teah, a seamstress, wants to sew suits for Liberia's new leaders, and Diamond wants to return to the young daughter she left in Guinea with relatives.

"Right now I can't sew clothes because of the conditions we live in," muses Teah. "But we are thanking God the war is over."

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