The crackle of bullets and crash of mortar bombs echoed across Monrovia after the government on Tuesday rejected an offer by rebels to stop fighting and let peacekeepers deploy in the Liberian capital.

Mortar bombs slammed into the capital's eastern suburbs late on Tuesday, giving no respite to residents of the city which has been under siege for 12 days by rebels bent on toppling President Charles Taylor.

Hundreds of people have been killed and water and food are running low in Monrovia where residents said they were bracing for another day of fighting on Wednesday.

"We are weary hearted, we are tormented, we are confused," said Stephen Parker at a refugee camp outside Monrovia. "We just want the international community to hear our plea."

Residents also reported fighting in Buchanan, Liberia's second port. Although government forces advanced deep into the southern city overall control remains unclear there.

The government rejected the rebels' latest cease-fire offer -- the fourth such truce since a June 17 peace accord that was supposed to stop fighting.

"How many times in one week can they call a cease-fire? We don't put any value in it," Information Minister Reginald Goodridge told Reuters.

He said the rebels should withdraw back to positions they held when the first truce was agreed in June.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked on Tuesday the Security Council to approve the immediate deployment of a Nigerian force to Liberia, saying he was deeply concerned about the dramatic deterioration of the situation on the ground.

But West African leaders have yet to set a date for the deployment, which is being delayed by haggling over who should fund the mission.

An official from West Africa's regional bloc ECOWAS said it was "very likely" that a reconnaissance mission would head to Liberia on Wednesday to work out the logistics of a deployment.

He said the mission, which has been repeatedly postponed because of the ongoing fighting, would take at least two days, and no troops would be deployed before its conclusion.

The United States, under increasing pressure to do something to stop the carnage in a country founded in the name of liberty by freed American slaves, was sending his top Africa man to the region to request that all of Liberia's neighbors crack down on arms supplies to the rebels.

The first country to be visited on Wednesday by Assistant Secretary of State Walter Kansteiner was Guinea, which is seen as the main backer of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

The US has ordered three warships carrying troops to take up positions off Liberia's coast, but Washington is reluctant to put any combat troops on the ground and says its soldiers will simply help the deployment of West African troops.

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