Liberia: Deposed President Rips 'American War' In Farewell Address

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

from:             	r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx
---------------------------
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030811/ap_on_re_af/liberia&cid=515&ncid=716

Taylor Rips U.S. in Farewell Address
By GLENN McKENZIE and ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated
Press Writers

-He accused the United States of arming Liberia's
rebels, calling it an "American war" and suggesting it
was motivated by U.S. eagerness for Liberia's gold,
diamonds and other reserves.
-"They can call off their dogs now." Taylor said. "We
can have peace."
-Two months of rebel sieges have left well over 1,000
civilians dead in the capital....



MONROVIA, Liberia - President Charles Taylor delivered
a farewell address Sunday to a nation bloodied by 14
years of war, declaring himself "the sacrificial lamb"
to end what he said was a U.S.-backed rebel war
against his besieged regime.

Taylor, sitting solemnly with folded hands, recorded
the address in front of a Liberian flag at his home,
for broadcast on the evening before he was to hand
power to Vice President Moses Blah at one minute
before noon (7:59 a.m. EDT) on Monday.


"I do not stop out of fear. I do not stop out of
fright. I stop out of love for you, my people," Taylor
declared, adding, "I fought for you."


He accused the United States of arming Liberia's
rebels, calling it an "American war" and suggesting it
was motivated by U.S. eagerness for Liberia's gold,
diamonds and other reserves.


In Washington, a senior Bush administration official
said he wasn't aware of a claim by Taylor about the
United States and the rebels in Liberia, but that it
would be false to claim the United States was arming
or funding rebels.


Speaking slowly, with a raspy voice, the Liberian
leader declared: "I love this country very much. This
is why I have decided to sacrifice my presidency."


"They can call off their dogs now." Taylor said. "We
can have peace."


It was a goodbye that few would hear in his desperate,
war-divided capital ? preoccupied in the search for
food, and without fuel to keep radio or TV stations on
the air.


Two months of rebel sieges have left well over 1,000
civilians dead in the capital, as insurgents and
Taylor's forces dueled with the city of 1.3 million as
its battlefield. The war has left Taylor controlling
little but downtown, referred to derisively by rebels
as Taylor's "Federal Republic of Central Monrovia."


West African leaders extracted Taylor's promises to
leave Monday, to be followed by exile in Nigeria at
some unspecified time after.


At least three West African heads of state, including
South African President Thabo Mbeki, were expected for
what Taylor's regime was trying to organize into an
hours-long formal resignation ceremony.


Taylor recorded the farewell speech for radio, at a
desk behind shelves piled high with folders. Lit by
generators running on fuel scrounged by the
presidency, the scene was recorded separately on
scratchy audiotape.


By late Sunday, the speech had not been played on
local radio in the unlit capital, shattered by
shelling and littered with shrapnel, bullet casings
and rubbish from looting by Taylor's forces.


The recording session came as at least one car piled
high with luggage pulled out of Taylor's high-walled
private home.


Female members of Taylor's party danced outside to
show support and maimed veterans of 14 years of
conflict under Taylor stood by aimlessly.


Support stopped just across the street from the former
warlord's home. "We've been praying to Almighty God
for this day," said Theoway Gayweh, among small crowds
gathered across the street to watch what they hoped
would be the last hours of Taylor's regime.


Most in government-held Monrovia spent the day
scouting for food in markets that had little to offer
except leaves.


Others picked their way to churches in ragged Sunday
best along water-clogged streets, unrepaired since
Taylor, then a rebel leader, launched Liberia into
civil war in 1989.

Fighting since then has left more than 100,000
Liberians dead. International aid agencies estimate
virtually all of Liberia's roughly 3 million people
have been chased from their home by war, at one time
or another, under Taylor.

His rag-tag forces, paid by looting, are accused by
rights groups and Liberia's people of routine raping,
robbing, torture, forced labor and summary killings.
Rebels, to a lesser extent so far, likewise are
accused of abuse.

Taylor made no apologies ? asking only forgiveness
from any he may have wronged, in what have been his
years of carnage.

He compared his departure from the presidency to Jesus
submitting himself to the Romans.

"If I were the problem ? which you know and I know I'm
not ? I would ... become the sacrificial lamb," Taylor
said. "I would become the whipping boy that you should
live."

Perhaps crucially, Taylor made no direct mention of
his promise to leave Liberia. Closing his speech, he
declared: "I will always remember you wherever I am,
and I say, God willing, I will be back."

Taylor has accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria, but
he has also hedged on when he will go. He has said
that he would like to remain in politics.

Rebel leader Sekou Conneh met in Nigeria's capital,
Abuja, with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who
has offered Taylor exile. Obasanjo urged Conneh to
support West African-led peace efforts, Obasanjo
spokeswoman Remi Oyo said.

Conneh, in turn, pledged to open Monrovia's rebel-held
port quickly for humanitarian supplies ? but indicated
that would come only after Taylor's departure.

On the rebel-held side of Taylor's capital, rebels
were skeptical of that day coming.

"Until Taylor resigns, I won't believe it," said Sekou
Fofana, on turf patrolled by boys as young as 10
guarded with AK-47s.

___