Prometheus 6   

Taylor picks VP as his successor in Liberia

MONROVIA, Liberia — President Charles Taylor announced his successor Thursday, a step toward his much-anticipated resignation and ending two months of bloody warfare in Monrovia that has killed at least 1,000 people.

In a letter to Congress, Taylor said he would hand power to his vice-president, Moses Blah. Legislators approved the decision, paving the way for Taylor's stepping down Monday, as promised.

Meanwhile, West African peacekeeping forces drove into the rebel-besieged and famished capital to deafening cheers from the city's people.

…Taylor has hedged on when he would take up an offer of asylum in Nigeria - setting new conditions for his departure in recent days. His government has said he would leave only after enough foreign peacekeepers are on the ground and if a war crimes indictment against him is dropped.

Nigerian officials told The Associated Press that the Liberian leader had indicated he hoped to leave around Aug. 16 or 17. But South African President Thabo Mbeki said Taylor assured him he would leave within 24 hours of handing over power Monday.

Jacques Paul Klein, the top UN envoy for Liberia, urged Taylor to leave before he is arrested. A UN-backed court has indicted Taylor on war crimes charges for allegedly supporting rebels during a brutal decade-long war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

"The warrant never goes away, and the court will be there for a number of years," he advised Taylor. "So go while the getting is good."