Bush said President Taylor "needs to step down so that his country can be spared further bloodshed."

MONROVIA, June 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Liberia's main rebel group Friday, June 27, declared a truce to prevent a humanitarian disaster in war-ravaged Monrovia.

The ceasefire started at 10:00 am (1000 GMT), the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group said in a statement, adding the truce would "provide needed relief to the civil populace and subsequently avoid a grotesque humanitarian catastrophe in Monrovia."

Accusing President Charles Taylor, who is facing his toughest challenge in a four-year rebel war and currently controls only a fifth of Liberia, of using "civilians as cannon fodder," LURD said it would maintain its current positions in the seaside capital, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

Monrovia was calm Friday after heavy overnight fighting, during which at least four mortars landed in the city centre.

Only sporadic light arms fire was heard Friday morning, coming from an area east of Monrovia port -- a key quarter in the capital. The firing ceased after a few hours.

Liberian General Benjamin Yeaten said his men had taken the port.

"We are in complete control," he told AFP, adding that "mopping up operations are going on at Po river," about 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the city centre.

"We will pursue the enemy ... we have pushed them back," he said, and scoffed at the rebels' declaration of a unilateral truce, saying: "So after all the destruction they caused in Monrovia, they want a ceasefire.

"So they came here only to destroy?"

Central Monrovia was calm but there were no civilians on the streets.

Government forces patrolled the area and shops bore the marks of widespread looting.

Several hundred people have flocked to Monrovia's plush Mamba Point area, where many embassies and U.N. offices are located, to seek sanctuary.

Some 10,000 people were crammed into the Freemason's temple, one of the empty buildings there.

Thousands of people are living rough amid an acute shortage of food, water and medicines.

The rebels' surprise announcement Friday came amid mounting pressure on both belligerents to end the war.

Step Down

U.S. President George W. Bush Thursday, June 26, joined a chorus of international voices asking Taylor to step down in line with a painstakingly brokered truce which was signed last week, only to be shattered by the latest fighting.

The deal, brokered by west African officials in Ghana, called for Taylor to quit to pave the way for a caretaker government which would exclude him.

"President Taylor needs to step down so that his country can be spared further bloodshed," Bush said in a speech ahead of his upcoming visit to Africa next month.

"All the parties in Liberia must pursue a comprehensive peace agreement and the United States is working with regional governments to support those negotiations and to map out a secure transition to elections," he added.

"We are determined to help the people of Liberia find the path to peace," said Bush, whose first visit to Africa as president will take him to Botswana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.

Bush's call for Taylor to stand down brought a swift response from the government here which stopped short of agreeing to his immediate departure.

"The government reiterates President Taylor's declaration in Accra, Ghana on June 4, that he will not be part of any transitional government," the administration said in a statement.

In June, Taylor offered to form a unity government and said he could even step down, "immediately after the expiration of my term" in January 2004.

"It is the view of the Liberian government that peaceful settlement of the Liberian conflict hinges on satisfactory resolution of all political questions. Any hasty solution could lead to anarchy, chaos and further deterioration of an already critical humanitarian situation.

"The government of Liberia welcomes the interest that U.S. President George Bush has taken in the Liberian conflict and urges the U.S. government to remain pro-active in the peace process," the Monrovia statement said.

"The U.S. government's position is consistent with the Liberian government's desire for a smooth transition in Liberia devoid of violence and bloodshed."

Taylor, charged with war crimes by a U.N. court probing excesses during a barbaric 10-year civil war in Liberia's neighbor Sierra Leone, has said the indictment must be lifted if the peace talks in Ghana are to succeed.

He is also under U.N. sanctions, including an arms embargo, for his perceived support to former Sierra Leonean rebels.

Suspended

Meanwhile, west African mediators in Ghana on Friday suspended ongoing peace talks for a week saying the present circumstances made negotiations difficult.

The chief mediator, former Nigerian ruler Abdulsalami Abubakar, said both the Liberian government and rebels had promised to announce a truce later Friday.

"In the light of the prevailing circumstances, the moderator will be unable to take the peace process forward and is constrained to adjourn the talks for a week," a statement by Abubakar said.

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.