Liberian President Agrees to Step down When Peacekeepers Arrive

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, July 05, 2003

Liberian President Agrees to Step down When Peacekeepers Arrive

Liberian President Charles Taylor hassaid that he is ready to leave his country as soon as international peacekeepers arrive, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)reported Friday.

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Liberian President Charles Taylor hassaid that he is ready to leave his country as soon as international peacekeepers arrive, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)reported Friday.

Taylor's gesture came as US President George W. Bush consideredwhether to send in peacekeepers amid reports that Taylor might find asylum in Nigeria.

On Thursday, President Bush said that Taylor's departure from the country is "step one" for bringing stability and firming up a ceasefire that halted weeks of bloody fighting.

Taylor has been indicted for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone by a UN-mandated court. Initially he refused to accede to rebel and international demands that he steps aside, leading to Liberia's peace process being frozen.

According to Stanley Macebuh, one of Nigerian President Obasanjo's senior special assistants, Nigeria "is still looking into" the matter to offer Taylor an asylum in Nigeria as part of adeal to end four-year bloody civil war in his West African country.

Two rebel groups are fighting to oust Taylor and his government.The renewed fighting broke out in late June between the rebels andthe Liberian government troops had left some 300 people dead and over 1,000 injured, making it the worst phase in the four-year bloody civil war in the country.

The Liberian civil war, which lasted about 15 years and claimedat least 200,000 lives, flared up again in 1998 following attacks launched by the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy rebels in northern Liberia.

Civil war over the past decade has made Liberia among the most miserable places in the world and the latest unrest since 1998 hasforced some 300,000 Liberians to flee to neighboring countries andclaimed thousands more lives.

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