US President George W. Bush said Wednesday that the US military team sent to Liberia is to help west African peacekeepers to go into the country and to pave ways for humanitarian relief for the war-torn country.

"This is all part of...what is necessary to help" west African troops "to go in and provide the conditions necessary for humanitarian relief to arrive, whether it be by sea or by air," hetold reporters in Crawford, Texas, where he is on a month-long vacation.

He said the United States still wants Liberian President Charles Taylor to leave the country as a condition for a larger US deployment. "Yes, we would like Taylor out," he said.

The United States sent a military team to Liberia to help coordinate logistical support for west African peacekeepers in the country, and the seven-member team arrived there Wednesday.

The team, which would grow to up to 20 members, "will assist inthe coordination of contracting logistical support as may be needed to assist ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States)with its force buildup," the Pentagon said.

(Xinhua News Agency   August 7, 2003)