Thousands of civilians fled the sound of fresh fighting near Liberia's second city of Buchanan today as caretaker President Moses Blah sought to cement a peace deal to end 14 years of bloodshed.
Men carrying bundles on their heads and women with babies strapped to their backs streamed along the main road leading from the rebel-held port city to the West African country's capital Monrovia.
The refugees said they left their homes when gunfire and the thud of mortars echoed around an area some 80 km from Monrovia yesterday.
"There was terrible shooting. We could hear mortars. Boom, boom," said Benjamin Garkpley, walking empty-handed toward Harbel outside Monrovia.
The reports of fighting underlined the fragility of a peace deal signed earlier this week by Blah's government and two rebel groups, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and a smaller faction known as Model.
It was not immediately clear who was fighting whom, but some refugees said Model fighters were trying to advance on Monrovia, some 120 km (75 miles) from Buchanan.
A number of refugees said they had also heard fighting this morning. Small trucks packed with young government fighters sped toward the front line near Buchanan.
Fighting inside Monrovia has died down since West African peacekeepers were deployed this month. But for people in the hard-to-reach interior, the peace deal is still just a piece of paper.