About 300 Nigerian soldiers will be flown in by helicopter ? the first contingent of several thousand West African troops. Sporadic shelling and gunfire continued yesterday, as government troops tried to re-capture the rebel-held port.

Liberian President, Charles Taylor has said he will step down as president on 11 August ? but it is not clear when or if he is going to take up an offer of asylum in Nigeria.

There are high hopes among the Monrovian populace that the soldiers will bring calm to the streets of the capital. However the force?s commander, Brigadier General Festus Okonkwo, told that the first contingent would only secure Monrovia?s airport and would not venture onto the city?s streets.

US troops confusion

Nigeria?s chief of army staff, Major General Martin Luther Agwai, told that although they had a mandate to defend themselves if attacked, they were not going to Liberia to fight against any of the factions.

He added that he did not want to have to bring home a single Nigerian coffin. Some Liberians want the United States to send troops as well. The Americans have given $10m to fund the start of the peacekeeping operation and US warships are thought to be anchored off the coast out of view over the horizon, ready to sail nearer to land when the West Africans arrive.

However, a United Nations resolution authorising the deployment of a West African force makes no mention of any participation by US troops.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed since fighting reached Monrovia in June, as rebel groups made gains after three years of civil war. Aid agencies have appealed to both government and rebel troops to agree to a humanitarian corridor across the front line so they can get urgent relief supplies to civilians.

Water shortage

Hundreds of thousands of people are packed into the city centre, risking their lives if they venture onto the streets to find food and water.

UN?s food agency, WFP, has begun an emergency operation to airlift food aid into the capital, flying in half a metric ton of high-energy biscuits over the weekend.

And 30 tons of British aid ? including cholera and rehydration kits, baby clothes and plastic sheeting ? have left the UK on a plane chartered by Save the Children.

People are now at as much risk from cholera and other diseases, as flying bullets, the UK charity?s Brendan Paddy told.

President Taylor has been promising to hand over power since 4 June, when a United Nations court in Sierra Leone announced it had indicted him on war crimes charges.