LIBERIA: Bodies littered the streets of Liberia's second city yesterday as the advance team of a US-backed peacekeeping force made its way towards the embattled capital, Monrovia, writes Declan Walsh.
Residents of Buchanan, a strategic coastal town captured by rebels on Monday, said clashes with attacking government forces near the port area resulted in civilian carnage.
"There are bodies all over the place. Dozens of people have been killed," said one resident by telephone. "The wounded are on the streets and there is no way to treat them." Others said the dead were being carted away in wheelbarrows during lulls in fighting.
As the fighting raged, a small African military team boarded a plane in nearby Ghana headed for Monrovia, where authorities said they would assess conditions to deploy a peacekeeping force.
Six west African countries have promised a total of 3,250 troops for an eventual 5,000-strong force under the umbrella of the regional Ecowas bloc. The deployment will be supported by at least 2,000 US troops currently steaming towards Liberia aboard three warships.
In Washington Pentagon spokesman Mr Lawrence Di Rita said it was "too early" to say whether they would take part in onshore operations.
President Bush repeated his demand that President Charles Taylor leave Liberia and that a ceasefire be implemented before any US involvement in the war-wracked country.
"I also want to remind you, the troop strength will be limited and the time frame will be limited, and we're working on that," Mr Bush told a White House news conference.
A ceasefire announced on Tuesday by the main rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, has yet to take hold. Residents of rebel-held parts of the capital held rallies urging both sides to the bloody conflict to hold their fire until the peacekeepers arrive.
The 12-member Ecowas assessment team is expected to work in Monrovia until tomorrow. Their findings will determine the deployment of two Nigerian battalions of 1,300 troops.