EU ready to support international force in Liberia

The European Union has called for the swift deployment of an international peacekeeping force in Liberia and said it was ready…

The European Union has called for the swift deployment of an international peacekeeping force in Liberia and said it was ready to consider support for such a force.

The Italian presidency of the EU said in a statement that apeacekeeping force should be accompanied by Liberian PresidentCharles Taylor stepping down immediately.

EU officials would not comment on whether the bloc mightconsider sending troops, but a diplomatic source close to theEU, who declined to be identified, said the statement referredto financial support.

The EU, which has granted 3.5 million euroin humanitarian aid to organisations helping in Monrovia, hasnot been asked to support a peacekeeping force financially, butis willing to consider such a move.

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"The European Union stands ready to consider support forsuch a force," the statement said.

Liberia has been battered by 14 years of civil war and thegovernment says the latest attacks by rebels have killed 1,000civilians in the capital, Monrovia.

West African officials met in Ghana's capital Accra onMonday with the Nigerian head of a planned peacekeeping force,Brigadier-General Festus Okonkwo, and U.S. and regional militaryexperts to finalise plans to send in troops.

Nigeria has said it would like some kind of truce in placebefore deploying troops and an army spokesman said anannouncement on when it might start sending troops could come asas early as Tuesday.

The regional bloc, the Economic Community of West AfricanStates (ECOWAS), has said troops will arrive some time thisweek. West African leaders have pledged to deploy some 1,300Nigerian soldiers as a vanguard force of a larger mission.