Walter Kansteiner, U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, left for the region Monday night to increase pressure on regional leaders.
"I think the Nigerians are getting cold feet," a U.S. official said. "They know the U.S. is under a huge amount of public pressure, but we think regional players have to step up first. We're willing to help, but we don't want to bankroll the whole thing."
The haggling threatens to upset a tightly choreographed intervention. The arrival of the vanguard Nigerian forces -- due next week at the earliest -- would signal Taylor to depart. Once Monrovia is stabilized, a full multinational force -- presumably led by the U.S. -- would arrive to help install a new government and deliver aid. The multinational force would ultimately be relieved by a U.N. peacekeeping operation.
As talks dragged on, conditions worsened in Monrovia, where nearly half the country's population has taken refuge.
Forces loyal to Taylor were battling to retake Buchanan. They also claimed to have pushed rebels back from Via Town Bridge in Monrovia.
Taylor's troops said they were capable of keeping up the fight. Several of the soldiers were trying to shoot the locks off stalls in the Waterside Market where shoppers once could buy anything from an electric coffee pot to used clothing from America.
The market is now littered with thousands of bullet casings and aluminum siding torn down or blown off by mortar rounds. Soldiers gather in the wooden stalls that line the streets to listen to the radio, talk and watch their comrades before dashing out into the streets to fire off a few rounds themselves.
"They [the rebels] seized the port," said Vincent Mwheb, a 24-year-old government soldier. "It's a threat. There's no food now. If they go back, we won't go after them. We need peace."
His comrade, Paul Valde, said he had been a fighter for 13 years. At 22 years old, he is a member of the special forces in Taylor's ragtag army.
"I don't have anyone. My ma died, my pa died," he said. "I'm just alone." He said his troops would never surrender to the group that calls itself Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. "We were born here and we'll die here," Valde said.
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Farley reported from the United Nations and Cole from Monrovia.
