Bush orders troops to Liberia coast

President Bush has told the Pentagon to position an "appropriate" number of US troops off coast of war torn Liberia.

The US role will be limited, the White House said in a statement.

"The president has directed the Secretary of Defence to position appropriate military capabilities off the coast of Liberia" to help support the peacekeeping force, it said.

The statement did not say how many troops or ships would be involved.

"The immediate task of the (West African peacekeeping) force is to reinforce a cease fire and begin to create conditions where humanitarian assistance can be provided to the Liberian people," it said.

The statement reiterated Bush's insistence that Liberian President Charles Taylor "must leave."

International relief workers have been pressing the White House for a decision, saying that a delay in sending in peacekeepers made it impossible to help the victims of the fighting.

Bush has been mulling the decision since June, when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and others began pleading with the United States to provide military assistance after the announcement of a new cease fire accord.

The question dogged Bush as he travelled through sub-Saharan Africa at the beginning of July.

Throughout, Bush and senior aides said the United States likely would get involved because of the West African country's historical role as perhaps America's most dependable Cold War ally in Africa and its unique ties to the United States as a country founded by former slaves.