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Bush administration officials say the White House may make a decision shortly on sending U.S. peacekeeping troops to help end Liberia's deadly civil war.

Washington has come under intense international pressure to do something about the fighting, which killed hundreds of civilians in the capital, Monrovia, last week.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says there are indications the Bush administration would like to settle the issue before the president leaves Monday on a five-day African tour.

However, Secretary of State Colin Powell told American (ABC) radio late Wednesday that it would be premature to say the president has made a decision on the troop question.

Mr. Bush expressed concern for the suffering of the Liberian people Wednesday and repeated his call for Liberian President Charles Taylor to step down in the interest of peace.

A shaky truce established Friday between the Liberian rebels and government forces appears to be holding. News reports say the administration is considering sending several hundred U.S. troops, but only as part of a larger multinational peacekeeping operation and only for a limited time.

The reports say the U.S. military is not eager to take on another foreign mission because its resources are already stretched by military obligations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has contingency plans ranging from no action to deploying two thousand U.S. soldiers. West African nations have already pledged to send soldiers for the proposed operation.

The United States has several dozen Marines on stand-by at a base in Spain ready to deploy to Liberia should the security situation at the U.S. embassy there deteriorate.

Some information for this report provided by AP.