US warships arrived off Liberia to buttress peacemaking efforts today as more West African troops flew in to help end 14 years of bloodshed.
The arrival of about 200 peacekeepers yesterday has brought a measure of calm to the war-weary capital Monrovia, broken only by occasional firing. However, a mortar wounded four people early on Tuesday and fighting still rages elsewhere in Liberia.
Two white UN helicopters brought 40 more Nigerian peacekeeping troops to Monrovia airport today and more were expected later as the force builds up its strength to move into the city itself in about a week.
US officials say their vessels, still out of sight of the coastal capital, could help the regional force with communications and logistics. But their precise role remains under discussion.
The US has yet to decide whether to commit its own troops to a land founded by freed American slaves more than 150 years ago, where hundreds of thousands of people face hunger and disease under a hail of bullets and shrapnel.
A senior US defence official said the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima, the assault ship leading a three-vessel amphibious group, was near the coast along with the USS Carter Hall. The USS Nashvilleis expected within days.
The ships are carrying about 2,300 US Marines. The Nigerian soldiers' arrival in Liberia on Monday triggered celebrations on both sides of the frontline in Monrovia, where 2,000 have died in three rebel attacks since June.