United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for the urgent dispatch of a multinational force to Liberia to halt fighting between government and rebel forces that has killed hundreds.
Annan's appeal on Saturday came in a letter to the U.N. Security Council and was clearly aimed at stepping up pressure on the United States, which has close links to the west African country, to act to help end the chaos there.
The U.N. chief, on a visit to Geneva, said the council should meet immediately to agree on intervention "to prevent a major humanitarian tragedy and to stabilise the situation in the country."
So far, the Bush administration has not decided on sending any force, although the issue is under discussion. Britain's U.N. ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, last week publicly urged the United States to lead a multinational force.
"There are at least talks of further intervention, whether that's necessary or appropriate. I don't know at this point," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Friday.
Other U.N. sources said Washington was seeking evacuation of 50 American and European citizens from Liberia and had asked the U.N. operation in neighbouring Sierra Leone whether it could send helicopters. The United Nations, however, said it would first have to check whether Russia would accompany any evacuation with helicopter gunships, also based in Sierra Leone, the sources said.