"The work being done by the first all female unit ever to be assigned to a UN mission shows the special contribution that women can make to maintaining stability," said Alan Doss, Secretary-General's special envoy in the country.

The United Nations has been finding it very difficult to get all female units who are especially needed in view of the cases of rapes and other abuses by peacekeepers.

"We know from police experience around the world that women officers are good at handling potentially violent situations," Doss told officers of the unit during a visit to their headquarters in Congo Town, near Monrovia, on Thursday.

"We have to be ready for incidents of public disorder, which is not surprising in a country emerging for a long and violent civil war," he acknowledged, adding UN mission aims to manage public order without resorting each time to a military response.

"I am quite confident that with your help we can maintain a peaceful, stable and violence-free environment in Liberia," Doss told the unit made up 105 female officers with 20 male supporting staff -- the first largely female police unit to be deployed to a UN peacekeeping operation.

Doss said the mission wants to help Liberia build the capacity of the country's National Police so that the Government can effectively deal with problems of public order without unnecessary violence or bringing the military on to the streets, he added.