MONROVIA, Aug 10: Liberia’s President Charles Taylor said on Sunday he was being forced into exile as he prepared to step down under US pressure to end 14 years of strife that have spawned chaos in West Africa.
At least 2,000 people have been killed since June in the latest bout of blood-letting to grip the capital of a country that was founded in hope by freed 19th century American slaves and is now a pariah state of drugged up young killers.
In his farewell address before handing over to Vice-President Moses Blah on Monday, Taylor said he was resigning of his own will but being forced into exile.
“I can no longer see you suffering, the suffering is enough, you have been good people. I love you from the bottom of my heart,” Taylor said. “I say God willing, I will be back.”
Controlling only part of his own capital, told to step down by U.S. President George W. Bush and wanted for war crimes by a U.N.-backed tribunal in Sierra Leone, Taylor had little choice but to step down or fight to the death.
Blah said he would invite leaders of rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) for talks as soon as he took office and was “100 percent sure” of ending the desperate humanitarian crisis.
“This is over. We should lay down the guns and smoke the peace pipe,” said Blah, whom the rebels have said they will reject as just another of Taylor’s old guard. The arrival of West African peacekeepers last week fulfilled Taylor’s condition for bowing out. U.S. warships wait Offshore with 2,300 Marines. But Washington has not decided if it will commit ground troops.
REGIONAL WARLORD: Taylor has not said exactly when he will leave, but South Africa’s ambassador said he would go at the same time as other African leaders, including President Thabo Mbeki, after Monday’s handover ceremony. Taylor has said he would accept a Nigerian asylum offer though other places have been mooted.
West Africa’s leaders are keen to see the back of Taylor, accused of helping plot conflicts that have left a quarter of a million dead in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast.
Scores of fighters emerged from both sides of the frontline in Monrovia on Sunday, hugging, joking and swapping cigarettes and clothes on the bridges where battle raged a week ago.
“Even if our commanders tell us to fight, I personally will not fight. There is no need for war,” said Taylor’s young General “T-Boy” as he chatted with LURD commanders.
But while the guns are silent in the capital, there is little sign of a let-up in the dire humanitarian crisis here. The United Nations estimates that at least 450,000 people are displaced in Monrovia — many of them hungry and sick.—Reuters