Posted on 08/02/2003 8:39:10 AM PDT by HAL9000
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) -- Pressured by West African leaders, President Charles Taylor promised Saturday to resign Aug. 11 after the expected arrival of peacekeepers, as his forces stepped up their battle against rebels for Monrovia's port.As fighting surged in the city outside, Taylor told reporters at his lavish Atlantic Ocean mansion that he would hand over power during a joint session of Liberia's congress next week.
Taylor said he would step down the morning of Aug. 11 and "and the new guy will have to be sworn in." But he refused to say when he would leave Liberia, as he has promised to do previously and West African leaders have also demanded.
"The most important thing is, everything that we have said about resigning and leaving will happen," said Taylor, who has been offered asylum by neighboring Nigeria once he leaves office.
Taylor has been promising to leave Liberia since June 4, when a U.N.-Sierra Leone court announced a war-crimes indictment against him for his support of rebels there.
The Liberian leader also has made and broken other accords in 14 years of Liberian conflict, which Taylor, then a warlord, started as the leader of a small insurgency in 1989.
Saturday's meeting appeared to make at least some progress by committing Taylor to a date to leave power.
West African heads of state, in a summit late last week in Ghana, committed to sending peacekeepers Monday to Liberia, where rebels pressing a 3-year-old war to oust Taylor have the capital under two months of deadly siege.
They had insisted that Taylor leave by Thursday, three days after the deployment -- an unusually forceful message to a peer, delivered under strong U.N. and U.S. pressure.
"West African leaders seemed to understand that leaving the country within three days is not practical," Taylor's spokesman, Vaanii Passawe said.
The U.N. Security Council on Friday approved deployment of the multinational force to Liberia. The deployment is to last two months and be followed by U.N. peacekeepers.
It was still unclear whether U.S. Marines on three warships that are expected to arrive off Liberia's coast soon will go ashore. The Bush administration has insisted that the force being assembled by the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, take the lead.
But Liberians -- who feel a historical and cultural bond with the United States, have clamored for U.S. forces to help end the fighting in their country, which was founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century.
Fighting accompanying the rebel offensives has killed well over 1,000 civilians in Monrovia. Hostilities have cut off the port and the main water plant, leaving the city of more than 1.3 million residents and refugees desperately short of food and water, and susceptible to cholera.
Heavy fighting erupted again Saturday at Monrovia's port, where rebels are battling to cross bridges toward downtown, the heart of Taylor's government.
Government fighters crouched midway along the two bridges at the port Saturday, directing heavy grenade and gunfire toward buildings at the other side -- apparently, aiming at rebel snipers.
Black smoke rose from the rebel-held port. It was unclear whether the cloud came from fighting in the streets around the port, government shelling toward rebel positions, or other causes.
A five minute mortar barrage sent downtown residents, near government ministries, cowering. "Heavy, heavy mortars," resident Mohammed Dauda said by telephone, from under his bed. "We are taking cover."
Pickup trucks full of government fighters rolled toward the city's front. Residents and fighters claimed Taylor's forces had crossed over into Bushrod Island, site of the rebel-held port.
West African leaders have pledged to deploy at least 300 Nigerian forces on Monday, to be followed days after by troops of Ghana, Senegal and Mali. West Africans have called for a total of 5,000 regional peacekeepers.
Saturday also marked six years to the day since Taylor took office for a six-year term as Liberia's president, after emerging as the strongest warlord in the civil war.
Taylor's camp has insisted that his term actually lasts until January -- saying that is the constitutionally set date for the oath of office to be delivered.
Please give me a hamburger for which I will gladly repay you Tuesday...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.