Leaders vow troops as Liberia battles rage

WEST AFRICAN leaders promised to send peacekeepers to Liberia despite new rebel attacks that shattered a short-lived ceasefire considered crucial to restoring peace in the troubled country.

President Charles Taylor has promised to leave Liberia when peacekeepers arrive but was believed unlikely to do so with battles still raging in the capital, Monrovia, his last stronghold. The ceasefire lasted just 24 hours before the rebels began new attacks on Wednesday.

The rebels briefly seized the Stockton Bridge in the city's north but were driven back by government forces many of them teenagers armed with AK-47s and grenade launchers.