National News Liberia's Taylor bows down to pressure, leaving for life in exile

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MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - Indicted war criminal and former warlord Charles Taylor, who brought 14 years of death and destruction on Liberia, went into exile Aug. 11, under pressure from the United States, West African leaders, and rebels who have overrun most of the country.

Rebel assaults on the capital have killed more than 1,000 people in the past two months alone and driven thousands from their homes. Rebels had threatened more fighting if the former warlord did not leave the country immediately. As Taylor had reneged on promises to resign in the past, his departure was not certain until the moment the plane took off.

"History will be kind to me. I have fulfilled my duties," Taylor said in his farewell address, adding, "I have accepted this role as the sacrificial lamb ... I am the whipping boy."

Outside the hall where the resignation ceremony took place, crowds of Monrovians cheered Nigerian peacekeepers. The vanguard of a West African peacekeeping force, meant to build to 3,250 soldiers, has already brought some calm to the country.

Rebels, pressing on their 3-year campaign to oust Taylor, have left Taylor controlling little of Monrovia. Taylor's ragtag forces, paid by looting, are accused by rights groups and Liberia's people of routine rape, robbery, torture, forced labor and killings. Rebels, to a lesser extent so far, likewise are accused of abuse.

Taylor launched Liberia's near-constant conflict with a 1989-96 insurgency. He was elected president in 1997 on threats of plunging the country into renewed bloodshed. Rebels, including some of Taylor's rivals from the previous war, took up arms against him two years later.

Taylor has been indicted by a U.N.-backed court for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone, where he allegedly supported a rebel movement notorious for hacking off the limbs of civilians.

リベリアの前大統領、亡命

リベリアのテーラー大統領は11日退陣し、ナイジェリアに亡命した。しかし、大統領の辞任で国情が安定に向かうか否かは不透明だ。

Shukan ST: Aug. 22, 2003

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