Liberian rebels besieging Monrovia yesterday pulled back to the outskirts of the seaside capital, apparently to pave the way for a truce with the forces of embattled President Charles Taylor.

Residents fleeing to central Monrovia from areas held by rebels outside the capital said the insurgents had retreated to the Saint Paul's Bridge, on the edge of the city, and reported a lull in fighting.

"They (the rebels) said this was in compliance with orders from their commanders," a young man said.

The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) rebel group, who last week had fought their way up to the edge of Monrovia, had given Taylor a 72-hour ultimatum, set to expire yesterday, to stand down or face a fresh assault.

A Lurd statement issued yesterday made no mention of the deadline.

West African negotiators were yesterday due to meet Taylor to broker a truce in the four-year war, and allow stalled peace talks between the rebels and Taylor's government in nearby Ghana to go ahead.

The talks were formally launched last week, but their first working sessions ran aground when news of the rebel advance on Monrovia reached peace delegations in Ghana.

The war in Liberia has had a ripple effect in west Africa and sparked a humanitarian crisis in the troubled region.

Ghana's Foreign Minister Addo Akufo-Addo and Mohamed ibn Chambas, the executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) brokering the peace talks in Ghana, arrived at Taylor's presidential mansion around noon.

"Lurd forces have agreed to pull back from the city," Chambas told reporters earlier yesterday.

"This means that they have listened to our appeal" for a ceasefire, he said.

"We hope to meet Taylor and request that he avoids further attacks on Lurd positions so that the civilian population can be protected.

The guns have to be silenced so that the talks (in Ghana) can then proceed".

As heavy rains lashed battle-scarred Monrovia yesterday, thousands of civilians continued to pour into the city center seeking refuge or cash.

They walked through drenched streets but found banks closed.

Private taxis were on the roads but were charging huge sums.

A man who fled from the New Kru Town quarter, where the Lurd rebels were earlier based, said locals were forced to leave their homes as government troops "thought we were collaborators".

Witnesses said the commercial district of Duala, which was occupied by the Lurd in the past days, was currently "a no man's land".

Another fleeing resident said the rebels did not harass civilians.

"They asked us if we had food and if we said no, they would break open shops and allow us to help ourselves," he said.

"The rebels only want two people, Charles Taylor and his son," he added.

Liberian Defence Minister Daniel Chea on Tuesday said a government team would go to Ghana to negotiate a ceasefire.

Chea also said that loyalist troops were gaining the upper hand but admitted the going was tough.

Yesterday, more than 500 foreigners who were evacuated from Monrovia two days ago by French troops, arrived in Abidjan, the commercial capital of neighbouring Ivory Coast.

Aid group Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors without Borders) said doctors and patients were forced to leave "the last remaining public hospital in Monrovia" due to fighting.

MSF's mission head in Liberia, Alain Kassa, said: "In the city, possibly up to one million people are on the run," adding that in the northern suburbs "there are dead bodies in the main street and you can smell death in many places".

The organisation's medical coordinator Natalie Civet meanwhile warned that epidemics could break out soon.

"Cholera is endemic and peaks in the rainy season, which is now, overcrowding, lack of food, clean water and complete absence of sanitation will favour a fast spread of the disease," she said.

Meanwhile, former warlord Prince Yormie Johnson, a former close ally of Taylor, cast doubt on the proposed ceasefire and the peace talks in Ghana.

"The meeting will not succeed in achieving its objective. Who will monitor the ceasefire? Ecowas did not have troops on the ground before these talks to monitor the ceasefire," he said in Lagos.

"You need troops on the ground to monitor the ceasefire," he said. – Sapa-AFP.