"We're particularly concerned about the high number of civilian casualties. The civilians seem to be disproportionately caught up in the fighting. We're also concerned that people are unable to access medical services they need in those areas where the fighting is particularly intense. We're not even able to get food in there."

President Obama has said European leaders must act urgently to solve the financial crisis facing the continent. He warned that the solutions would be hard but said they could be found, and stressed that Europe's leaders understood the seriousness of the situation and the need to act now. Paul Adams reports.

This isn't the first time Mr Obama has sounded a note of impatience at the inability of European leaders to chart a way out of their debt crisis. Speaking to reporters at the White House, he did his best to sound optimistic. European leaders knew there were specific steps, he said, that they could take right now to stabilise the situation, including injecting capital into weak banks and

laying out

a vision for a stronger eurozone. But the president urged them to think about ways to generate jobs and growth too. The sooner they acted, he said, the quicker people and markets would regain confidence.

The United Nations says seven of its peacekeepers have been killed in an

ambush

in the southwest of the country near the Liberian border. All seven were from Niger. The UN recently strengthened its presence in the area.