July 7, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 6,1424

MONROVIA, July 6: Embattled Liberian President Charles Taylor said on Sunday he has accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria, but gave no indication when he would leave his anarchic country, ravaged by a four-year civil war.

“We have accepted it,” said Taylor after an emergency meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo at Monrovia’s Robertsfield airport.

Obasanjo said moments earlier that “we have extended an invitation to President Charles Taylor... he has not hesitated to accept.” That offer included “safe haven in Nigeria”.

The Nigerian leader, whose country has played a leading role in trying to resolve the Liberian conflict, said his invitation was a “necessary gesture for peace” but warned that he would “not accept to be harassed by anybody or any organisation for inviting Charles Taylor to Nigeria.”

Taylor, who currently controls only one-fifth of his war-torn country and whose capital is ringed by rebel forces, said the important thing now was to ensure an “orderly” exit.—AFP