WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- The United States is about to send troops to stem the civil unrest in Liberia, a report said Monday.
Officials in Washington met round-the-clock over the weekend to plan a possible armed response -- its first mission to Africa since the disastrous intervention in Somalia almost a decade ago.
A statement is expected within the next few days, possibly as early as Monday evening, the London Telegraph reported.
President George Bush has come under pressure from Britain and France to lead an emergency combat force to the Liberian capital, Monrovia, where at least 700 people were killed when rebels attacked two weeks ago.
The State Department and Pentagon are keen for action but have met opposition from the White House. Bush has called on Liberian President Charles Taylor, indicted for war crimes by a United Nations court earlier this month, to step down.
