"We are still making arrangements but we have still not got approval from the government nor from the other side," Nigerian General Festus Okonkwo said.

"If eventually they give us their approval then we will go ahead," he said.

Defence Minister Daniel Chea however said he government was not stalling things, adding that he was "waiting to hear" from the peacekeepers.

"When they contact me, I've ordered my generals that we will repeat the prodedure from the previous visit," he said, referring to an earlier visit by Okonkwo to the rebel zone.

The vanguard of the Nigerian-led force entered Monrovia on Thursday but its first patrol was limited to central districts controlled by teenaged gunmen loyal to embattled President Charles Taylor.

On Friday, force commander Okonkwo and US ambassador John Blaney were due to meet field commanders of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) to discuss access to the port and the northern areas controlled by the rebels, US officials said.

At the same time, aid agencies were hoping to send an emergency convoy over the frontline bridges separating LURD territory from government lines to help beleaguered citizens living behind rebel lines, the agencies said.

WAR.WIRE