Charles Taylor plays for time

West African peacekeepers consolidated their presence on Wednesday outside Liberia's war-ravaged capital as President Charles Taylor began to baulk over his stated intention to go into exile in Nigeria.

Taylor has vowed to step down next Monday and hand over power to Vice President Moses Blah, but a senior Nigerian official said on Tuesday that the former warlord appeared to be playing for time over whether he will actually leave the country.

On Tuesday the United States, which has 2 500 Marines on ships off the coast, moved closer to sending troops into the west African country, with plans to dispatch a military liaison team to Monrovia, defence officials said.

With the military and humanitarian situation slowly stabilising in Liberia, both the rebels and the international community see Taylor's departure as a necessary step before a durable political solution to the west African country's latest bout of civil war can be found.

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=18377

What have I learned over the past year? The media rarely publishes what's really going on. You've got to find out who the real players are by reading the DU.

http://darkerxdarker.tripod.com/