Brutal fighting and heavy shelling calmed in the war-wracked Liberian capital Monrovia late on Monday after day-long clashes killed dozens of people, possibly as many as 100, according to humanitarian sources.
Intermittent gunfire was heard in the diplomatic quarter but no shells landed in the area after nightfall.
Earlier in the day, the Mamba Point diplomatic quarter came under sustained mortar fire and one round hit the US embassy compound slightly damaging a building. There were three casualties from that attack.
Pierre Mendi, the head of MSF-France (Medecins sans Frontieres) in Liberia, said: ”There is no clear picture about the toll but it would be safe to say that dozens have died in the fighting today.”
Other humanitarian sources said the toll could easily touch 100. Earlier in the day, a contingent of US special forces arrived from Spain to bolster security at the US embassy but their deployment was interrupted when at least 20 mortar shells fell near the compound.
Meanwhile, Sekou Damate Conneh, the chief of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) main rebel group battling President Charles Taylor for four years, said his movement would fight to the finish.
Nigeria has offered Taylor, who now only controls a fifth of his country, asylum if he agrees to step down and allow a shaky West African-mediated peace process to get back under way. Taylor has accepted but has not said when he will leave.
The United States meanwhile ordered 4 500 troops currently in the Red Sea to head for the Mediterranean, where they could then be sent to Liberia, a Defence Department spokesperson said in Washington.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed the order on Saturday, sending 4 500 sailors and Marines from the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, Lieutenant Dan Hetlage said.
From there, they could sail to Liberia in as little as seven days, he added.
US President George Bush said on Monday he was ”monitoring” the crisis in Liberia, but gave no indication when he would commit US forces to support a west African peacekeeping operation.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has stepped up pressure on the United States and west African leaders to move quickly and deploy troops, saying ”I think we can still salvage the situation if troops are deployed.” – Sapa-AFP