Bush sends experts to Africa to assess peacekeeping role

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- President Bush is sending military experts to Africa to assess whether U.S. troops should help enforce a fragile cease-fire in war-torn Liberia. He was also considering a conditional offer by the country's leader to step down.

Bush said American officials were discussing the makeup of a peacekeeping force with the 15-country Economic Community of West African States.

"We are talking to ECOWAS countries right now to determine what the nature of a peacekeeping force might look like," Bush told CNN's "Inside Africa."

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, speaking to reporters traveling with the president to Ohio for Fourth of July celebrations, announced Bush was sending a team of military experts to the region.

Information that the White House gets from the assessment team will help Bush decide whether to commit troops -- and how many if he does -- to Liberia, Fleischer said.

The Bush administration has strongly suggested that President Charles Taylor's departure would be a prerequisite for a U.S. role in an international peacekeeping force in Liberia.

Taylor said he would leave only if a peacekeeping force is deployed.

Fleischer said Bush was not bound to decide by "the artificial deadline" of his Monday departure for a weeklong trip to sub-Saharan Africa.