Liberian rebels and government forces are engaged in a fierce firefight around Monrovia's strategic port on the sixth day of attacks on the city.
West African leaders insisted they were speeding the first peacekeepers to stop fighting overrunning the refugee-crowded capital where civilians are suffering from a lack of access to safe water.
Despite fighting at the port and sporadic explosions and gunfire through the night, rebels said they were putting in place a ceasefire they had promised since Tuesday.
"It takes a couple days for the fighting to calm down," said rebel leader, Mr Charles Benney.
"We don't want to take the country by force. We want to do it by negotiated settlement ... a military takeover isn't in anyone's interest," said Mr Benney, a leader of a three year rebel campaign that has pushed President Charles Taylor into a last stronghold, Monrovia's besieged, densely populated centre.
Fighting since Saturday has killed hundreds of civilians, leaving bodies lying in the streets and aid workers burying other corpses on the city's Atlantic Ocean beaches.
Battles have cut off the main supplies of water and food, with the port - crowded with warehouses holding food stocks - across the front-line in rebel hands.
Civilians have scant shelter from pouring rain, while food and drinking water are running short. Aid workers are struggling amid stray bullets and have warned of a cholera threat.
This is the third time rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) have attacked the capital since June, and calls have been growing louder for foreign troops to intervene to stop fighting that has killed 1,000 people.
Officials from the United States, United Nations, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigeria are due to meet in neighbouring Sierra Leone today to draw up plans to deploy Nigerian peacekeepers as soon as possible.
Agencies