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.

Even as the fighting raged, West African leaders meeting in Dakar, Senegal pledged to send two Nigerian battalions to Liberia within days the vanguard of what they say should be a 3,250-strong international force.

The first Nigerian battalion, 770-strong, would arrive in a week, officials said.

In Accra, Ghana, a top aide Mr Taylor again pledged he would leave the day the Nigerian troops arrive.

"When the interposition force arrives, Mr Taylor will leave," Lewis Brown said.

Mr Taylor has repeatedly promised to cede power since rebels opened attacks two months ago on Monrovia. The rebels were just as sceptical about the latest claim.

"Taylor is just bluffing," rebel spokesman Kabineh Ja'neh said in Ghana, site of off-and-on peace talks for Liberia. "You know how many times he has said this kind of thing? We'll make sure he leaves."

West African and UN leaders and many Liberians have urged the United States to send peacekeepers to the country, which was founded by freed American slaves with US government support in the 19th century.

Three US ships with 2,000 Marines and 2,500 sailors aboard were moving toward the Mediterranean Sea, where they were to await orders to head to Liberia.