Johannesburg — In a solemn and at times passionate recorded farewell address to the Liberian people, broadcast by the international media on Sunday evening, Liberian President Charles Taylor repeated that he was willing to sacrifice his troubled presidency to end the bloodshed in Liberia's civil war.
Taylor, 55, told Liberians "I must stop fighting now. I do not stop out of fear, I do not stop out of fright. I stop out of love for you, my people. What is most important is that you live, and that ... there is peace".
Always the showman-cum-preacher-president, Taylor called his exit "a self-fulfilling prophecy," adding that he was being forced out of office by the United States, which he accused of arming Liberian rebels.
Taylor's speech came on the eve of his promised handover to his vice president, Moses Blah, amid growing pressure from the region and from Washington.
The address followed the initial deployment of almost 800 Nigerian peacekeepers in Liberia this the past week, sent in by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) as a vanguard for a bigger regional operation. But correspondents say the Nigerian troops are not well armed, leading to fears that any power vacuum in Liberia, should Taylor leave the capital soon, could be filled with more wild violence among the rival armed factions operation operating in and outside the capital, Monrovia.
Recorded at his private residence in Monrovia, Taylor's 15-minute face-saving speech was scheduled to be broadcast locally later on Sunday. Looking weary, but not beaten, Taylor told Liberians: "As I look at people dying, I must stop fighting". Latest figures say at least 2,000 people have been killed in two months of fighting between pro-Taylor militia and rival armed factions in Liberia.
Taylor spent his final scheduled day as president preparing the speech and receiving visitors at his home. He came to power as an elected leader in 1997, after launching Liberia's first brutal civil war at the end of 1989.
Again depicting himself as a selfless leader, and implying that his was a noble action, Taylor accused U.S. President George W Bush of pushing him out. Taylor portrayed himself as the little man, in little Liberia, with no choice but to fall into line when Washington gave him and his government in Monrovia orders. But, he argued, "the solution to the problem in Liberia cannot be for the president of the United States to ask the president of Liberia to leave".
"If I were the problem, which I know you know I'm not, I would step aside . . . I would become the sacrificial lamb, I would become the whipping boy so that you should live," he told Liberians.
Washington has stationed three warships off the coast of Monrovia, waiting for instructions once Taylor leaves. A small contingent of U.S. Marines, initially seven, has come onshore to liaise with the Nigerian peacekeepers. Another 80 Marines are on duty guarding the American embassy complex in Monrovia.
Ever combative, Taylor accused Washington of financing, training and arming the rebel faction, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), across the border in Guinea. "This is an American war," he said. "Lurd is a surrogate force". If the United States would spend just a fraction in Liberia of what it is spending in Iraq, Taylor said, "it could make a huge difference."
Taylor said Washington "caused this war" with an "anybody-but-Taylor policy."But we appreciate their presence. They can call off their dogs now, and we can have peace".
Taylor continued: "I challenge George Bush, with due respect Mr President, please, you are a man of God, do something for our people. It must be for real now. Liberia is bleeding. It's being raped by foreigners."
Making reference to the support Liberia's rebels have received from Liberia's neighbors, Taylor said: "Guineans and Sierra Leonean Kamajors are cutting the breasts off women, cutting the hearts out of people and eating them on camera, Mr President. You must help Liberia now!" (The Kamajors are traditional hunters in Sierra Leone who fought against Taylor's allies, the rebel movement known as the Revolutionary United Front, during Sierra Leone's civil conflict in the 1990s.)
Taylor also said the international community, led by the Washington and London, had denied Liberians the right to defend themselves by imposing an arms' embargo and that timber sanctions had starved Liberia of revenue. "Something as simple as a toothpick cannot be exported from Liberia," said Taylor, adding that a UN travel ban had prevented Liberian government officials from travelling to the West to defend their cause.
"There are massive resources here," he said, "gold, diamonds, all they needed to support you, our people. I have fought for you." "I have resisted attempts in the past to sign agreements that would take everything. I hope they do not sign these agreements now," he warned.
At times uncharacteristically low-key, and at others almost wheedling and angry, Taylor said: "I am stepping down from this office of my own volition. No one can take credit for asking me to step down. I did not want to leave this country. I can say I am being forced into exile by the world superpower."
"I have decided to leave because, for the first time in history all over the world, the United States is using food and other things as a weapon against the Liberian people. Because if the administration of President Bush says that they will not step on this soil and will do nothing as long as I'm here, this further threatens your survival as a people. And, as I have said, I can no longer see you suffering. The suffering is enough. But you are good people. You have been very good to me, through the grace of God and I love you from the bottom of my heart. I will always remember you, wherever I am. And I say to you, God willing, I will . . . be back".
Taylor's final phrase, that he may return, might be some comfort to his lawless fighters, battling to maintain control of parts of Monrovia. But it may be interpreted as an unwelcome threat by Liberian civilians who consider Taylor's early departure as the first step towards a possible return to peace in their beleaguered country, after more than 13 years of civil war with little respite.
The embattled Liberian leader did not mention when he would be leaving Monrovia or indicate his final destination outside the country, though it appeared almost inevitable that he would honour his pledge to resign on Monday. He said the rebels must now "submit itself to the democratic process," and urged the new Liberian administration and the regional community "not to tamper with the constitution" at Liberia peace talks in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
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Taylor did not refer to the offer of political asylum and exile in Nigeria, in the steamy southeastern city of Calabar, in Cross River state, with its old world charm, similar to Monrovia. Calabar is far from Nigeria's political hub in the capital Abuja, or the clamour of the commercial centre in the main city, Lagos.
Reuters quoted a South African ambassador saying that Taylor would leave, after Monday's handover to Blah, at the same time as other leaders expected to witness the ceremony - including outgoing African Union chair, South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, the current AU chairman, Mozambican President Joachim Chissano, and Ghana's President John Kufuor, the Ecowas chairman.
Taylor has said in the past that he would accept the Nigerian invitation and Reuters reported that two flights carrying his family and property - including three of his expensive four-wheel drive, bullet-proof vehicle fleet - landed in Calabar on Sunday.
Regional leaders want to see the back of Taylor, who is considered a pariah in West Africa and a rogue ruler who has fuelled bloody conflicts that have caused the deaths of a quarter of a million people in his own country as well as in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire. Taylor has been indicted for war crimes by the UN-backed Sierra Leone Special Court and is said to have been negotiating to have the charges dropped, before he agreed to leave Liberia.
"I pray that the security forces will join me in making sure that peace comes to this country," said Taylor, a wish that most Liberians share.
