The United Nations Security Council has approved a resolution to keep peacekeepers in Liberia for another year and stressed the supporting role the force will play in next month's presidential and legislative elections.

The Council's decision means the 9,200 member U.N. peacekeeping mission in Liberia will remain in the west African nation through next September.

The Security Council resolution said free, fair and peaceful elections on October 11 will be a core benchmark for determining when and how to reduce the scope of the peacekeeping mission.

Peacekeepers arrived in Liberia in 2003 to help stabilize the country at the end of its civil war.