UN warns Liberia leader to leave
A senior UN official has warned the Liberian President Charles Taylor to
leave the country while he can.

Jacques Klein, the UN special representative for Liberia, warned that if Mr
Taylor stayed in the country, he risked being arrested on war crimes
charges.

Mr Taylor appears to be preparing to leave Liberia to take asylum in
Nigeria, but correspondents say he is notorious for changing his mind.

On Wednesday a small team of American marines arrived by helicopter in the
Liberian capital, Monrovia. The marines will, to help the West African
peacekeepers to prepare for the arrival of humanitarian aid.

People in the capital are desperate for food, especially in government-held
areas, where products such as rice cost 20 times more than in the areas
controlled by the rebels.


My message to Mr Taylor would be 'take the offer while it's on the table'
Jacques Klein UN special representative for Liberia On Wednesday,
government fighters fired shots in the air to prevent hundreds of Liberians
crossing into the rebel-held port area of Monrovia.
The humanitarian situation seems to be better in rebel-controlled parts of
the city because they have been distributing the stocks of food which were
in the port's warehouses, reports the French news agency, AFP.

International warrant

There has been some confusion over whether Mr Taylor will step down and
take up an offer of exile in Nigeria.

Reuters news agency says South African President Thabo Mbeki told a
business forum on Wednesday he was planning to fly to Monrovia on Monday to
attend a ceremony marking the handover of power by embattled President
Taylor.

He said agreed to make the trip after a request from Ghanaian President and
Ecowas chairman John Kufuor.


If [peacekeepers] can protect the port then it will let us get fuel and
provide access to the other half of the city Magnus Wolfe-Murray
Merlin charity

But earlier a Nigerian presidential spokesman said Mr Taylor was only
willing to leave if he was promised immunity from prosecution.
A United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal has issued an international
warrant for his arrest for his alleged role in the brutal 10-year civil war
in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

The UN's Jacques Klein said his message for Mr Taylor would be:

"Take the offer while it's on the table.

"The warrant never goes away, and the court will be there for a number of
years. So go while the getting is good, in a sense. Because remember it is
the United Nations that captured the first indicted war criminal in the
former Yugoslavia."

Changed atmosphere

The United Nations has launched an appeal for almost $70m to provide food,
shelter, medical care and assistance to civilians affected by the fighting.


An estimated one million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, as
ships have not been able to dock since the rebels seized the port during
the past month of fighting in Monrovia.
On Tuesday, the rebels promised West African peacekeepers that aid agencies
could use the port in the capital, Monrovia, to deliver badly needed
supplies of food, water and medicine, West African peacekeepers said.

The Chief-of-Staff of the West African peacekeeping force, Ecomil, Colonel
Theophilus Tawiah told BBC News Online that the rebels had given this
commitment at a meeting in rebel-held territory near the port.

However, some rebel commanders say they will remain in the port until Mr
Taylor steps down.

Aid agencies say that access to the port would be a massive boost for their
humanitarian effort.

Ecomil troops have so far remained at the Robertsfield airport, some 40
kilometres from the city centre.

But our correspondent says their arrival has already changed the atmosphere
in the city.

On Tuesday government fighters were seen embracing rebel gunmen on one of
the bridges that had been the front line of the conflict.

Both groups said they wanted to stop fighting.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/3130759.stm

Published: 2003/08/07 02:08:06 GMT

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