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U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says President Bush will be ready within days to decide whether to send peacekeeping troops to Liberia.

Mr. Powell told reporters in South Africa Thursday that a U.S. military team now in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, has nearly finished its mission to assess security and humanitarian conditions. He said the team's report, along with one from another team meeting with West African officials in Ghana, will provide the basis for Mr. Bush's decision.

Mr. Powell was in South Africa with the president, who is on a five-day tour of Africa.

Mr. Powell's comments came as the United Nations announced Secretary General, Kofi Annan will go to Washington Monday to discuss Liberia with President Bush.

Mr. Annan has repeatedly called on the United States to consider intervening in the West African nation. As late as Wednesday, he said he hopes the United States will make what he called "the right decision" and send in troops.

Meanwhile, President Bush is back in South Africa from Botswana, where he pledged U.S. help in the country's fight against the AIDS pandemic.

During a six-hour visit Thursday to Botswana, the third stop on his five-nation Africa tour, Mr. Bush emphasized his $15 billion, five-year AIDS initiative for Africa and the Caribbean. Botswana is to be one of the recipients of the president's AIDS package.

Mr. Bush held talks with Botswana's President Festus Mogae on AIDS, trade, tourism and the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. Friday, President Bush will travel to Uganda and Nigeria for talks with the leaders of those countries.

He concludes his Africa tour in Nigeria on Saturday.