By Abdoulaye W. Dukulé
Accra

With reports circulating that Liberian President Charles Taylor had been indicted by a United Nations-backed tribunal, the 55-year old former warlord made an unexpected offer to step down at the end of his term.

"If I am the problem and seem to stand in the way for Liberia to achieve peace, I will remove myself from the process to allow peace to come to our country," Taylor said during the opening session of the Liberian peace talks here on Wednesday. He also suggested he was open to the formation of a transitional government after his five-year tenure ends in October.

Prior to the session, news of the indictment was confirmed in an announcement from Freetown by the court established to investigate war crimes during Sierra Leone's civil war. "My office was given an international mandate by the United Nations and the Republic of Sierra Leone to follow the evidence impartially wherever it leads. It has led us unequivocally to Taylor," David Crane, the Court's chief prosecutor, said in a statement.

The court decided to indict Taylor in March but waited until he arrived in Ghana to make the action public.

… Even Taylor 's own supporters seemed surprised by his pronouncement. Lewis Brown, minister of state for foreign affairs and leader of the government delegation, said that he could not make any comment because he was as surprised as anyone else.

While the positions of the African leaders remain unclear, none of them publicly shook hands with Taylor and nobody exchanged a single word with him during the meeting, even though they were speaking to each other and making jokes at the microphone. Late in the day, Taylor boarded a plane provided by the Ghanaians and flew back to Monrovia.