Chea told AFP that his forces and the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group were engaged in heavy fighting 12 kilometres (eight miles) outside the seaside capital for a third day.

"The rebels are using mortars and machine guns, and we are exercising maximum restraint," the defence minister said, adding: "We are appealing to the international community to exert pressure to rein in the LURD."

General Benjamin Yeaten, the deputy chairman of the Liberian Joint Chief of Staff said he was "upset that the rebels could attack at this time when the president has offered to step down and leave the country."

"This will bring more hardship to the Liberian people," he said.

Liberian President Charles Taylor, who now controls only a fifth of his war-battered nation, recently accepted an asylum offer from Nigeria after agreeing to quit under a west African-brokered peace deal inked last month.

Chea said he would discuss the resumption in fighting with a team of monitors from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), due to arrive in Monrovia later Friday to assess the situation on the ground.

The fierce clashes sparked panic in Monrovia, reviving residents' vivid memories of when the city was stormed by LURD forces early last month before they pulled away to the edges to pave the way for the ECOWAS-mediated truce.

"We are tired of war. We want the immediate deployment of peacekeepers who will protect our properties and lives," vegetable seller Korpu Varney said.

"We can't depend on either the government troops or rebels for protection. They are noted for looting, killing and maiming," lamented Fayia Korsor, one of tens of thousands displaced by the conflict.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy for children at war, Alara Otunnu, meanwhile, expressed grave concern over plight of children and called for special measures for their protection.

"The situation is very, very worrying in Liberia and it is urgent that there be an intervention force as soon as possible," Otunnu said in the Senegalese capital Dakar amid reports that many children were being killed or raped.

Otunnu hoped the peacekeepers "will be accompanied by advisers on protecting children."

The rebels, meanwhile, angrily rejected accusations that they had started the latest bout of fighting, saying government troops had advanced on their positions in breach of the June truce.

Kabineh Ja'neh, the leader of the LURD delegation at peace talks in the Ghanaian capital Accra, said: "What are government troops doing in our positions. Are they on a picnic? Is it a fishing expedition? I'm sorry, we don't see it that way, we see it as an act of hostility."

Tens of thousands of people who fled earlier clashes between the rebels and government soldiers are living rough in the heart of Monrovia, amid an acute shortage of food, water and medicines.

Taylor, meanwhile, has not given a date for his departure and has stressed he will not leave until an international peacekeeping force arrives to ensure a smooth transition in Liberia.

The White House said Thursday that US President George W. Bush had not yet decided on what role the US military could or would play in Liberia, where both the government and rebels have called for the deployment of US soldiers.

Bush said earlier this week during a meeting with UN chief Kofi Annan that he was open to deploying US troops for a "limited" role in stabilising Liberia.

ECOWAS meanwhile has pledged to send an initial contingent of some 1,000 troops commanded by a Nigerian officer but the exact date of the deployment has not yet been fixed.

WAR.WIRE