The UN has deployed its first all-female peacekeeping force in Liberia.

Drawn from India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), around 100 women officers have joined the existing 15,000 strong UN force which has been instrumental in restoring stability to Liberia after years of civil war ended in 2003.

In India, the director-general of the CRPF, J K Dutt called the women's deployment "a unique and historical moment" for the force.

We are soldiers, we are trained and we have been given the same kind of treatment that a normal male contingent gets   Cmdr Seema Dhundiya

The women will work as a police unit in various areas of the country, training the Liberian police force, assisting with the approaching local elections and providing security in prisons.

The UN secretary general's special representative in Liberia, Alan Doss said that the women will make an important contribution to the work already being done by the existing UN peacekeepers.

"We're delighted. It is, I think, the first time that an all-female police unit has been assigned to a UN mission. But, that unit will join a group that has done tremendous work here, and I'm sure they will do a fine job."

One of the unit commanders, Seema Dhundyia, said that the battalion's advance party had been made very welcome in the country; and on the streets of Monrovia, the BBC's Will Ross found people to be approving of the female unit. Listen to some reaction via the link below.

Reaction from downtown Monrovia