President addresses rally, renews pledge to step down

(26 Jul 2003)

1. Refugees and members of audience in the stands at stadium
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Charles Taylor, Liberian President:
"Let me reiterate: let nobody have any concerns about, 'Will the president step down?' I will step down. And you see over the past several days, they've launched thousands of rockets in Monrovia, killed thousands of people. If I were not here, there would be bodies all over the city. I thank God that he could have laid on my heart, that the presence of peacekeepers in this country will be extremely necessary to redeem us and to save you, our people. And after they come, we will receive them, and I will turn over my office."
3. Cutaway of people in stands
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Charles Taylor, Liberian President:
"The economy is ruined, they have imposed arms embargo, I cannot defend you adequately. They have imposed economic sanctions, the economy is ruined, I am convinced that as long as I am here, you will continue to die and therefore I have decided that because it is not just about me and power, that you the people matter."
5. People in stands dancing as band plays below

STORYLINE:

Embattled warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor on Saturday urged international peacekeepers to hurry to rebel-besieged Liberia, and renewed pledges to step down when they arrive.

These were the first comments from Taylor since US President George W Bush on Friday ordered troops to Liberia's coast to support a promised West African peace force.

The Liberian president was speaking at a national prayer rally in a refugee-crowded stadium.

Taylor knelt in prayers for peace, saying to refugees living in the arena that he was "so sorry" for their suffering - although he took no responsibility for it.

Taylor declared "the presence of peacekeepers in this country is extremely necessary to redeem us and save our people ... after they come, we will receive them, and I will turn over my office".

As a condition for any American deployment, Bush has demanded that Taylor step down as president.

He has been indicted as a United Nations war-crimes suspect and has been blamed for many of West Africa's conflicts.

Rebels have waged a three-year campaign to oust Taylor, and since June have had the capital under assault in fighting that has killed hundreds.

Taylor has been saying, since soon the rebels opened their offensives on the capital, that he would step down - only to renounce the pledges, or to hedge on their timing.

His most recent statements have assured Liberians he would quit when peacekeepers arrive.

The Liberian leader has said he will accept a Nigerian offer of safe haven when he quits.

When that happens, Taylor told dignitaries, power will go either to his vice president, Moses Blah, or Liberia's speaker of the house, Nyundueh Monkoma.

Taylor spoke to a dignitary-filled crowd of five-thousand in the stands, while 30-thousand refugees from the rebel siege swarmed under the bleachers and on the stadium grounds, gripped by hunger, thirst, and rampant cholera.

Performances by Liberia's military band brought the crowds spilling out onto the fields to dance.

Taylor claimed at the rally that one-thousand people had died in the past week of fighting in the capital.

Taylor's figure appears exaggerated.

He insisted Monrovia was safer with him than without him, until peacekeepers arrive.

But then the president appeared to contradict himself by saying, "I am convinced that as long as I am here, you will continue to die".

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