Some 300 Nigerian troops are expected to land in Liberia today in the first wave of a West African peacekeeping force that could top 5,000 by month’s end.

The Washington Post reports Liberians are still pleading for President Bush to send in U.S. troops but no move from Washington has been made.

The deployment of U.S. troops has been delayed in part because President Bush first wanted assurances that any troops who go into Liberia will be protected from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. We’ll have more on Liberia later in the show.

Liberian President Charles Taylor had agreed to relinquish power on August 11 but it is no longer clear when he will go into exile in Nigeria. Taylor wants the war crimes indictment against him to be dropped before he goes into exile.