Liberia's latest tool against crime: the mobile phone.

Liberia's government is giving away free mobile phones to help residents call the police to help tackle a soaring crime rate. 400 communities around the capital, Monrovia, will be given 10 phones, pre-programmed with a free police hotline to report crimes. Liberia's 14-year civil war ended in 2003 but many thousands of ex-combatants have not yet found jobs in civilian life, and some have turned to armed robbery, while the small police force struggles to cope. Officers only go into dangerous areas with the backing of UN peacekeepers. allafrica.com