July 8, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 7,1424

MONROVIA, July 7: Liberian police and special forces blocked some 200 militia veterans from advancing on the presidential mansion in Monrovia on Monday as they tried to demand compensation from outgoing president Charles Taylor.

The wounded soldiers chanted “we want our pay” as they moved towards the mansion from the eastern suburb of Sinkor. The peaceful protest was stopped before it could reach the grounds of the presidential mansion.

A source close to the presidential office said the government has started paying the veterans 10,000 Liberian dollars (150 US dollars) each.

Officers of the elite presidential anti-terrorist guard are also being paid salary arrears of between five and six months.

In 1998, veterans stormed and ransacked the Centre for Democratic Empowerment offices of former interim president, political science professor Amos Sawyer.

Sawyer and his staff were manhandled by the veterans who accused the professor of lobbying the United Nations to withhold support from them.

Meanwhile, Liberians have welcomed Taylor’s decision to go into exile in Nigeria with cautious optimism.

“That is the best option for him. If he does not take advantage of this offer, he may die like his predecessor Samuel Doe,” said money changer Fayia Sammy.

There was considerable speculation in Monrovia that Taylor would leave with visiting Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo so his publicized remarks only saying he would leave at some point in the future were seen as an anticlimax.

Accountant Joseph Sando said that Liberians cannot rejoice as long as Taylor remains in the country and he would not return to his home to St. Paul Bridge until peacekeepers were deployed.

Presidential press secretary Vanii Paasewe, however, said the voluntary exile was a “rude disruption of the democratic process”.

US EXPERTS: US military specialists on Monday arrived in the Liberian capital Monrovia to assess possible efforts to bring stability to the war-torn west African country.

Wearing helmets and flak jackets, the group left Monrovia airport by helicopter and arrived in the heavily-armed US embassy compound in the capital.

The US military command in Europe said the team comprised between 10 and 15 military experts and another 10 to 15 soldiers drawn from postings in Germany and other parts of Europe.

US President George W. Bush ordered the group to Liberia on Friday, but Washington has not committed to sending a peacekeeping force to the region.

Liberian President Charles Taylor on Sunday bowed to US demands that he step down and said he had agreed in principle to leave the country and go into exile in Nigeria.

He said the arrival of a US-led military force to oversee an orderly transfer of power was “crucial in every way” and a precondition for his voluntary exile.

Bush leaves for a five-nation tour of Africa on Monday, where he is expected to visit Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria.—dpa