Liberia: Liberian rebels punched through government defences in the fifth day of a furious battle for Monrovia yesterday as regional leaders promised to rush in 1,300 peacekeepers "within days", writes Declan Walsh Abidjan
Only hours after the rebels declared a ceasefire, mortar and machinegun fire ripped through the northern suburbs of the Liberian capital.
The rebels seized Stocktons Creek bridge, a key position leading to the city centre, the airport road and President Charles Taylor's executive mansion.
Mr Taylor repeated earlier promises to leave power, a pledge that was met with widespread cynicism.
More civilians died as shells rained on the city centre, sparking a further slide in the dire humanitarian situation.
And on the Atlantic Ocean shoreline, mourning relatives, unable to reach city cemeteries, buried their dead relatives in the sand under a battleship-grey sky.
Liberia's defence minister claims 600 people have died as a result of recent fighting. Aid workers can confirm 120 but say the toll is probably much higher.
As peace talks in nearby Ghana yielded nothing, hopes for an end to the violence lay more than ever with outside powers.
In the Senegalese capital, Dakar, foreign ministers from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) bloc told reporters that two 650-strong Nigerian battalions would arrive "within days".
The deployment has been promised for two weeks but is bogged down by logistical problems and, according to some reports, wrangling over how much the soldiers will be paid.
The Nigerians are viewed with suspicion by Liberians, who watched in dismay as Ecowas peacekeepers smuggled weapons and looted civilians during an earlier mission in the early 90s.
Liberians have joined French and British calls for the US to send a smaller force to spearhead the African mission. But those appeals have been frustrated by an apparent reluctance by President Bush. Some 4,500 US soldiers are sailing towards Liberia from the Horn of Africa, on the other side of the continent. However, the US will not say what role they may play, with Mr Bush insisting on Ecowas deployment before any such decision.
Meanwhile, Monrovia's humanitarian crisis deepens rapidly. Tens of thousands of people are sheltering under thin plastic shelters that offer little protection from either seasonal downpours or falling shells.
Fresh water supplies, previously trucked into Monrovia by the European Union, have been cut off since Saturday. Food is increasingly scarce. And aid workers say that 350 new cases of cholera are being reported every week. Many blame the US for failing them. Dozens of disabled people in wheelchairs gathered outside the steel gates of the US embassy yesterday and chanted: "We want food! We want food!"
"If they can't give us peace then they must give us food," James Sander, a polio victim who used to beg on the now-empty streets, told the Associated Press.
An American evangelist beside him said the two men had been praying for several days and, despite earlier broken promises, he was confident Mr Taylor would keep his word.
President Taylor's options appear increasingly limited. In an interview with the New York Times, he promised to leave office within 10 days.
Meanwhile, Switzerland moved on Mr Taylor's worldly goods, freezing about $1.5 million in accounts held by associates.
The move had been requested by the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, which wants to charge Mr Taylor for fomenting a vicious rebellion there.
Liberia has more financial transactions with Switzerland than any other African nation.