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have suggested that the United States contribute another Taylor is under intense in ternational pressure to step down — Bush has said he would “not take ‘no’ for an an swer” — and is holed up in a capital surrounded by rebels. But Taylor has insisted peace keepers deploy before he will go to ensure fighting does not erupt again. Another complication is the threat of trial on war crimes charges that hangs over Taylor after his indictment by a U.N. backed court in Sierra Leone. The Bush administration re acted coldly to any delay in Taylor quitting. White House spokesman Jimmy Orr said: “What the pees has said is Mr. Tay or needs to leave and leave soon. He needs to leave so peace can be restored.” One rebel official welcomed the news but said he had no confidence Taylor would follow through and leave Liberia. Tay lor has broken promises in the past to step down. “I hope this time around Mr. Taylor will act on his words,” rebel leader Kabineh Ja’neh said in Accra, Ghana. “Far too often he has failed to honor what he says. We don’t trust him. Not at all.” Taylor and Obasanjo would not say when the Liberian pres ident would step down, but both warned that too hasty a departure could spark new from Page Al fighting in the West African na tion, where hundreds were killed in a failed rebel push in to the capital last month. “We believe the exit should not take place in confusion .. in a way that will lead to more bloodshed,” Obasanjo said. “We believe the transition should be orderly and peaceful.” He said the peacekeepers’ deployment should take place “in a very, very short time.” In Washington, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the Armed Ser vices Committee chairman, said Congress should vote on any U.S. troop deployment to Liberia. Because of the deadly chaos in Liberia, “we’ve got to think through very, very carefully the insertion of U.S. forces in there,” Warner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The war crimes court indict ed Taylor for his role in Sierra Leone’s recently ended decade of terror. Taylor has been ac cused of supporting the brutal Revolutionary United Front rebels, whose trademark atroc ity was amputating the arms and facial features of their civilian victims with machetes. Bush is scheduled to land Tuesday in Senegal, one largely peaceful West African nation that has not experienced the ill effects of years of warmaking by Taylor — a former warlord long accused of sowing strife in the region by aiding rebel groups.
Newspaper Details
Winchester Star
Winchester, Virginia, US
Mon, Jul 07, 2003
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Deborah D.
USA 05 Jun 2026
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