Liberia's Taylor submits resignation

President Charles Taylor submitted his resignation in favour of his vice president as throngs cheered the first West African peacekeepers to enter Liberia’s besieged capital, Monrovia.

Vice President Moses Blah said the handover is planned for Monday, but rebel leaders warned that they will not allow any ally of Taylor’s to hold power while the war-torn country tries to find a way out of 14 years of bloodshed.

Outside Monrovia, peacekeepers reportedly seized a new weapons shipment from Libya that apparently was destined for government forces in violation of a UN arms embargo.

Rebels and government troops are fighting in several parts of the country, and a two-month battle over Monrovia has killed hundreds of civilians and left the 1.3 million people crowded into the divided city short of food and water.

Residents and refugees poured into the streets yesterday when more than 100 Nigerian soldiers in the peacekeeping mission drove into the capital.

“We want peace! No more war!” the crowds chanted. The peacekeepers blew kisses and waved white handkerchiefs.

Nigerian Lieutenant Colonel Amos Nudamajo would not say when the force would begin regular patrols of the city, saying only that would happen “at the appropriate time”.

The force’s first foray into Monrovia came as Congress formally endorsed Taylor’s letter of resignation and he designated the 56-year-old Blah to succeed him.

Blah said he received a telephone call yesterday morning from Taylor, who said he would be sworn in as president on Monday.

“He congratulated me, and he said he is hoping I will cope with the situation on the ground,” Blah said. “A lot of people are suffering.”

Despite a fearsome reputation as a former guerrilla general, Blah is a quiet, unassuming man who drives himself around Monrovia in a Jeep while other officials travel in flashy motorcades. He was trained as a mechanic and has travelled extensively.

Taylor indicated he would go into exile “very shortly”, said Blah, who was a feared Taylor ally in the 1988-96 civil war that killed 100,000 people and put Taylor in power over a nation left in ruins.

Taylor has repeatedly hedged on promises to go into asylum in Nigeria, but last night he told CNN: “I can assure you that I will be here not one minute longer than necessary”. He refused to say when he would leave Liberia. “I will be stepping down on Monday.”

His government said that would happen only after enough foreign peacekeepers were on the ground – and if a war crimes indictment by a UN-backed tribunal is dropped. The court, based in neighbouring Sierra Leone, alleges Taylor supported a brutal rebel group in Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war.

“Nigeria has chosen to ignore that court, and I will be going to Nigeria,” Taylor said in the CNN interview. “They’ve all seen the political nature of this … they see no reason why I should be harassed. I will go to Nigeria, God willing.”

In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Taylor would not get out of the war crimes charges.

“If Mr Taylor leaves Liberia, as we expect him to do in the very near future, and is given asylum in Nigeria, this does not remove the indictment in any way,” Mr Powell said.

Rebel leaders reached by phone at the scene of peace talks in Accra, Ghana, said the rebels would observe an often-violated June 17 cease-fire pact for Monrovia, but insisted they would not accept Taylor’s allies holding power.

Kabineh Ja’neh, a leader of the rebel group besieging Monrovia, said his men “will not recognise Mr. Blah or any other chosen representative of Mr Taylor’s criminal empire”.

Ja’neh said negotiations for a comprehensive peace accord leading to a transitional government were continuing in Accra.

At the airport 30 miles from Monrovia, peacekeepers intercepted a plane carrying an arms shipment that landed overnight in defiance of a UN arms embargo, according to airport workers.

West African officers confirmed only that a Boeing 707 arrived from Libya and that its cargo was seized. Nigerian soldiers were seen guarding two navy blue shipping containers – one empty, the other locked.

Taylor’s defence minister, Daniel Chea, denied the cargo of “military equipment” arrived by plane.

He said it was part of the government’s movement of supplies to the south-eastern city of Buchanan and the northern town of Gbarnga, where fighting persists between government and rebel forces.