Taylor says he will sacrifice his presidency in farewell speech

MONROVIA, Liberia -- In a farewell address to his war-torn nation, President Charles Taylor declared Sunday he would "sacrifice my presidency" to stop bloodshed in Liberia.\nTaylor, sitting solemnly with folded hands, recorded the address before a Liberian flag at his home. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the recording before its broadcast to the nation, expected later Sunday.\n"I love this country very much," Taylor said. "This is why I have decided to sacrifice my presidency. As I look at people dying, I must stop fighting."\nThe statement marked Taylor's first formal word to Liberia's people that he was quitting, in a resignation ceremony due today.\n"I stop now, because above all else, you the people count," Taylor said.\nTaylor also accused America of forcing his departure. The United States and West African nations have demanded Taylor cede power in a bid to end 14 years of conflict ushered in by Taylor.\nFew in Taylor's cut-off capital, under siege by rebels for two months, would be able to hear the address -- with batteries, fuel for generators and all else, especially food, scarce on the government-held side of Monrovia.\nLate Saturday, Vice President Moses Blah told the AP that Taylor would make good on his pledge to turn over power at a ceremony Monday. Taylor has pledged to cede power and go into exile but has backed off similar promises.\n"President Taylor is relinquishing power for the sake of peace," Blah said. "Taylor is surely leaving; he's leaving the country in my hands."\nBlah appealed to rebels besieging the capital Monrovia to stop fighting and help restore order. The rebels vehemently oppose Blah's succession, demanding that a neutral figure be appointed to preside over a transition government.\n"I am telling my brothers out there ... lay down your arms, leave the bushes and come let's build the country," Blah said.\nRebels remained skeptical of any promises from Taylor's administration.\n"Until Taylor resigns, I won't believe it. He is a criminal," said a rebel civilian official, A.L. Hadjia Sekou Fofana. Fofana allowed that if Taylor indeed fulfills his vow to cede power, "it will be a step in the right direction."\nFofana renewed rebel pledges to give up the city's port to a West African peacekeeping force when it has sufficient strength to hold the harbor from Taylor's fighters. The peace force had 687 troops on the ground in Liberia on its way to a promised 3,250-member deployment.\nAmerican and West African military officers ventured into Monrovia's rebel-held port for the first time on Saturday since the two-month siege began. They found aid warehouses looted and corpses floating by the docks.\nThe U.S. and West African officers negotiated with the rebels for days to gain access to the port. The access is crucial to opening humanitarian lines for Liberia's capital -- especially for the government side, where tens of thousands of civilians have little to eat but leaves.\nKabineh Ja'Neh, a top rebel official at off-and-on peace talks in Ghana, said he favored a humanitarian corridor "in principle." He stressed rebels had yet to make a formal decision.\nRebel fighters clutching rocket launchers and taped-up assault rifles escorted the West African troops, three U.S. Marines and a U.S. Embassy military attache, Army Col. Sue Ann Sandusky, through the port to view damage from the rebel sieges.\nThe West Africans and U.S. Marines surveyed shelled, charred piers looking for docking for aid ships to deliver food to the capital. Discolored bodies floated next to upended, rusted ships.\nThe peacekeepers' presence and Taylor's promise to resign have helped bring a weak truce to Monrovia, though fighting persists in the countryside.\nAs the clock ticked on Taylor's regime, his spokesman Vaanii Passawe warned that government fighters might cause chaos when he leaves. "Our morale has been sapped," he said Saturday.\n"The situation is likely to collapse unless some pressure is put to bear" on the rebels, Passawe said. "Once the president leaves, our boys might be stigmatized. If that is the case, you must expect chaos. Hell might just break loose."\nTaylor, a former warlord blamed for 14 years of conflict here, has pledged to go into exile in Nigeria some unspecified time after he resigns.