UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on the Security Council to authorise the deployment of a multinational force for war-wracked Liberia, in a letter issued by his office in Geneva.
Liberian President Charles Taylor's government and rebels signed a west African-brokered truce last week in Ghana but it was immediately breached, leading to renewed fighting in Monrovia.
Taylor, who currently controls only a fifth of his country of some 3.3 million people, is now facing his toughest challenge in the latest civil war as rebel forces lay siege to his capital.
Liberia has been wracked by almost uninterrupted war since the 1990s, with tens of thousands of refugees flocking to nearby countries for shelter, where their hosts struggle to feed them.
Meanwhile, Taylor has said his government is preparing to ask the United States to send troops to his country.
He said they were looking at certain protocols they had with the United States which could be invoked to invite in US troops. He also said he would welcome an international peacekeeping force, as advocated by the French foreign minister and the UN secretary general.
