But Charles Taylor, a rebel whose National Patriotic Front of Liberia controls most of the country, has opposed the peacekeeping force's intervention in the eight-month-old civil war.

Mr. Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia claims to have 15,000 troops, but Bush Administration officials said the actual number was thought to be closer to 1,500.

Like other factions in an often-grisly conflict, guerrilla fighters of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia have been accused of appalling atrocities.

It was a breakaway faction of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).

She was one of the founders and the political leader of National Patriotic Front of Liberia, the warlord Charles Taylor's party.

The civil war began in 1989 when Charles Taylor, the warlord of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, invaded from neighboring Ivory Coast.

The appeal was a response to the series of military successes the rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, has scored since the fighting began five months ago.

Mr. Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia is the largest of the three armies fighting for control of this West African nation of 2.5 million.

It was formed in 1997 by members of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia following the end of the First Liberian Civil War.

Taylor's support rose rapidly, as the Mano and Gio flocked to his National Patriotic Front of Liberia seeking revenge.