Rebels are tightening the noose around Liberia's President Charles Taylor and the battle-scarred capital Monrovia after seizing the West African country's second city and port.
Rebels battling to oust the former warlord already hold the capital's port so the fall of Buchanan southeast of Monrovia meant there was no seaport left in government hands to ship in vital supplies of fuel and food.
Scores of fighters in pickup trucks raced out of Monrovia towards the southeastern port last night, passing the main international airport which is Mr Taylor's last major strategic card and less than 100 kilometres from Buchanan.
"Model rebels have captured Buchanan, but we are massing our troops outside to retake the city," one commander told Reuters.
Military sources said fighting also raged for Gbarnga, Mr Taylor's stronghold during a civil war in the 1990s and a city on the main highway leading out of Monrovia, linking the capital to neighbouring Ivory Coast and Guinea.
Battles raged in the heart of Monrovia as representatives of West African countries met with US military experts in Ghana but failed to agree a date to deploy peacekeepers to Liberia.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo told the BBC his country was ready to send 1,500 peacekeepers to Liberia, but needed a commitment of outside help first.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the "reckless behaviour" of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) was disqualifying them from a future role in Africa's oldest independent republic.
Liberians have been pleading for the United States to intervene but so far the world's superpower has only promised logistical support for the African force.
Liberians look up to the United States as a big brother because their country was founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago. But the United States has also long been seen by Liberian authorities as a covert ally of the rebels because of its military aid to Guinea - LURD's main backer.
Mr Taylor, who has been indicted by a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, has agreed under U.S. pressure to quit if peacekeepers come to Liberia.
The US State Department has sent its assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Mr Walter Kansteiner, to meet West African leaders. His exact itinerary has not been disclosed although a visit to Guinea's capital Conakry is expected.
Three US warships are sailing towards Liberia, though their role will be largely to support the West African force and there is no suggestion yet that U.S. troops will deploy.