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FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) - The last soldiers in what was once the United Nations' biggest peacekeeping force packed up old refrigerators and fax machines Friday, striking camp after six years helping end Sierra Leone's civil war.
If the peace holds after the U.N. mission's mandate expires Saturday, it will be a watershed moment in efforts to restore calm to war-battered West Africa.
Fighting ended here in 2002 and elections that year led to a U.N.-guarded peace, but the roots of conflict that have sparked wars in many parts of the region, including corruption and poverty, remain firmly planted in Sierra Leone.
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