Liberia's Taylor sets date to hand over power

MONROVIA - Embattled Liberian President Charles Taylor Saturday pledged to hand over power in nine days and leave the country later, as government troops launched a fierce offensive against rebel positions in the capital.

The promise marked the first time the former warlord has set a definite date to relinquish control and came just two days before West African peacekeepers were due to arrive in the capital Monrovia to end a 15-day siege by rebels.

"At 11:59 a.m. Monday (August 11) I'll step down and a new guy must be sworn in by midday on that Monday," Taylor, who has been under intense international pressure to quit, said after talks with a team of West African envoys.

Liberia's Senate and House of Representatives were due to meet Thursday to organise the formal handover.

Liberia's constitution declares that Vice President Moses Blah would take over if Taylor died. However, if the president steps down voluntarily, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nyudueh Morkonmana, would assume power.

Taylor failed to give a date for his departure from a country crippled by 14 years of almost non-stop war which started when Taylor invaded with a rebel force in 1989.

"The most important thing is that everything we have said about resigning and leaving will happen," said Taylor, dressed in a black suit and carrying his trademark wooden stick.

A White House official said President Bush wanted Taylor to come good on his pledge to go.

"The president has made it clear that Charles Taylor needs to leave; there needs to be a cease-fire in place and the United States stands ready to support ECOWAS in going into Liberia and providing needed humanitarian assistance to the people of Liberia," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Taylor, who made his inaugural speech as president exactly six years ago, has been indicted for war crimes by a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone and accepted a Nigerian offer of asylum.

"Let's take one thing at a time," said Mohamed Ibn Chambas, a top regional diplomat and one of the envoys who met Taylor.

"I have no misgivings. I feel the process has started that will bring about durable peace," he said. The envoys left Monrovia shortly afterwards.

West African leaders had asked Taylor to leave his crumbling country three days after the arrival of a regional peacekeeping force. The first wave of 300 Nigerian peacekeepers are due to arrive in the capital Monday.

Earlier Saturday Taylor's forces launched a blistering attack on rebel positions in the capital, pushing the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) from three key bridges in the city centre and back toward the port.

By nightfall, however, the drive had petered out and LURD forces had regained most of the ground lost, witnesses said.

The fighting sent thousands of frightened residents streaming into the nearby Mamba Point district for shelter.

Two weeks of inch-by-inch battles have left hundreds of civilians dead in a city where food and water are running out and disease is rife.

Defence Minister Daniel Chea said civilian casualties had been high during heavy fighting Saturday in the second city of Buchanan, a strategic port southeast of Monrovia seized by anti-Taylor rebels Monday.

Many see the coming days as the end-game in a rebellion launched in 2000 by Taylor's foes from a previous civil war he started in 1989. That conflict left some 200,000 dead and Taylor emerged as the strongest warlord, winning elections in 1997.

The UN Security Council has authorized a multinational force to replace the West Africans by October 1. Taylor said he understood that eventually 5,000 well-armed and well-equipped peacekeepers would be deployed in Liberia.

Washington has promised logistical support but remains undecided on ground troops. Marines are aboard US warships due off Liberia but the vessels exact whereabouts remained unclear.

Many Liberians say the superpower should do more to end war in a country freed American slaves founded some 150 years ago.

- REUTERS