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Liberia president 'to step down'
MONROVIA, Liberia (CNN) -- Charles Taylor Saturday said he would agree to step down as president of Liberia, but only after a transition period. Taylor made his comments in an exclusive interview with CNN during a walk through the streets of this beleaguered city of two million people, many of whom were taking advantage of a respite in the fighting between government and rebel troops to search for food, water and missing family members. Asked about comments made Thursday in Washington by President Bush that "President Taylor needs to step down ... so that his country can be spared further bloodshed," Taylor expressed gratitude. "Finally, the United States is paying attention to Liberia," he said. Taylor, whose term ends in January, said he is willing to step down, but not immediately. Doing so would simply plunge the nation into more violence, he said. Instead, he said he will oversee a transition for the next six months, which would bring him to the end of his term and leave him as the country's sole surviving ex-president. Taylor added that the last rebel onslaught into the city was so strong that the rebels would have overrun the city had his troops not stood firm. Heavy fighting in recent days effectively smashed the cease-fire signed June 17 in Ghana. Hundreds of people have been killed in fighting this week, and tens of thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in the capital. Taylor made his comments just before U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan Saturday called for the Security Council to send a multinational force to Liberia to stop fighting between government and rebels and "to prevent a major humanitarian tragedy." (Full story) In a letter to Sergey Lavrov, the council's current president, Annan cited "the most recent grave deterioration" of a ceasefire agreement signed June 17 by the Liberian parties in Accra. "There are reports that several hundred innocent civilians have been killed in fighting in and around Monrovia, and of wanton destruction of property and widespread looting," he said. "Approximately one-third of the population of Liberia -- about one million people -- are seeking refuge in an already overcrowded Monrovia, where health and other humanitarian services are stretched to the limit. Virtually all international relief operations have ceased in the capital and most of the country. "The combination of cholera outbreaks and food shortages in an environment of ongoing violence, disruption of life-saving services, and cessation of humanitarian aid threatens to produce a major humanitarian catastrophe. This could be on a scale possibly even greater than the recent one in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo." Annan said the ceasefire violations "shake the very foundations of the Accra peace talks" and said appealed to the Economic Community of West African States for press for it to be observed. "The consequences of allowing the situation to spiral out of control are too terrible to contemplate -- not only for Liberia, but also for the countries of the sub-region, particularly neighboring Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire." In an apparent allusion to the United States, Annan said the force should be "under the lead of a member state." The main Liberian rebel group fighting to overthrow the government declared a truce Friday, and a top government official said soldiers would adhere to it. It appeared to be holding Saturday. Despite a few gunshots heard on the fringes of the capital, the streets were peaceful, though conditions were Dickensian: at one hotel, about 200 Liberians simply moved in and squatted in the halls and lobbies, begging for food. About 25,000 displaced people were staying in the National Stadium, despite the fact it had no lavatories, no running water and little food. Emaciated children wandered through the muck, kept moist by the regular downpours typical during Liberia's rainy season. One of the few aid workers who remain in the city blamed cholera for the deaths of several children at the stadium. Officials hope this most recent cessation of violence will allow the parties to indefinitely halt fighting and begin steps laid out in the cease-fire agreement to create a transitional government. An international monitoring team is due to arrive by Monday to oversee the cease-fire.
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