"Nigeria has pledged to send two batallions for the operation. We are ready to move anytime," Onwuamaegbu told AFP, adding that the 750 soldiers would be led by Brigadier General Festus Okonkwo Onwuamaegbu.

West African nations last week agreed to form the force for war-torn Liberia and send a first contingent of around 1,000 within two weeks "in a bid to arrest the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country," according to a statement by the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The statement said an initial force of more than 1,000 troops, a third of the total 3,000 pledged by ECOWAS, would come from Ghana, Mali and Nigeria.

Ghana plans to send 250 and Mali 150.

Onwuamaegbu said Nigeria may consider sending more than two batallions "if there is need for adjustment to the pledge we earlier made."

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo earlier this month offered asylum to embattled Liberian President Charles Taylor, which he accepted.

Top ECOWAS officials will meet next week to choose an overall commander of the peacekeeping force, Onwuamaegbu said, adding that Nigeria was preapared to accept the task.

Nigerian generals led peacekeeping operations for nearly 10 years in Liberia and Sierra Leone during civil wars which ended in 1997 and 2001, respectively. The current war in Liberia broke out in 1999.

ECOWAS was established in 1975 to foster economic integration, peace and stability in the region.

WAR.WIRE