Military

DATE=7/6/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=NIGERIA/LIBERIA TAYLOR (L-O)

NUMBER=2-305111

BYLINE=NICO COLOMBANT

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is heading to Liberia to discuss a possible asylum offer for Liberia's embattled President Charles Taylor. Meanwhile, the United States continues preparing for possible deployment of a peacekeeping force in the west African nation that has been wracked by nearly two decades of civil war. Nico Colombant reports from our west Africa bureau in Abidjan.

TEXT: The talks are expected to take place at the airport at Monrovia, Liberia's capital, just after Mr. Obasanjo arrives.

The Nigerian president has good relations both with Mr. Taylor and with President Bush, who has called for the Liberian leader to leave his country.

Mr. Taylor has been hesitant to do so because he faces the threat of arrest following his indictment last month by an international court in Sierra Leone for war crimes. Mr. Taylor has been accused of fueling instability throughout West Africa by supporting rebels and smuggling diamonds, timber, and weapons; charges he denies.

Meanwhile, the U-S government is sending an assessment team to Liberia to prepare for the possible deployment of American troops in conjunction with a West African peacekeeping force. But no decision has been made on the extent of U-S participation in such a force.

Two rebel groups control most of Liberia, but not Monrovia. They say they would accept U-S troops if Mr. Taylor leaves.

A cease-fire calling for a transitional government without Mr. Taylor has been holding since last week, but humanitarian conditions in Monrovia are worsening for the more than 200-thousand people left homeless by the latest rebel offensive.

Mr. Taylor has said he is ready to step down for the sake of peace, but that the transition process would be more orderly if he remained in power for a few more months. (SIGNED)

NEB/NC/ALW/RAE