Liberian rebels will fight on ”till the last man drops” if President Charles Taylor fails to leave the country next week as promised, a rebel leader said on Tuesday.
”Even if Taylor resigns but does not leave, we will not disarm. After Monday if he refuses to go we will fight him till the last man drops,” said Sekou Fofana of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd).
Fofana, Lurd’s deputy secretary general, was speaking to a small party of journalists who managed to cross a key bridge into the Lurd-held port area in the Liberian capital.
Lurd’s military leader General Sheriff Seyea said the rebels would not leave the port ”until international peacekeepers are fully deployed”.
The rebels have agreed to a proposal by the US ambassador to Liberia to pull back beyond the Po River, 20km north of the capital, once the west African forces, who began deploying on Monday, were in place.
A spokesperson for Taylor indicated on Tuesday that the president may not leave immediately after stepping down as promised next Monday, saying he could not give a precise date for security reasons.
Taylor told South African President Thabo Mbeki by telephone on Monday that he would hand over power to his vice president, Moses Blah. – Sapa-AFP