Military

DATE=08/01/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-306075

TITLE=LIBERIA/PRESIDENT'S EXIT (S)

BYLINE=SARAH SIMPSON

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT:

VOICED AT:

INTRO: West African foreign ministers are heading to Liberia to negotiate the exit of President Charles Taylor. Mr. Taylor has until next Thursday to get out of the country. Sarah Simpson reports from the V-O-A west Africa bureau in Abidjan.

TEXT: Foreign ministers from the west African regional group ECOWAS, are expected in the Liberian capital Monrovia on Friday. Their main task is to negotiate a peaceful exit for President Charles Taylor from Liberia.

President Taylor has agreed to leave the country when a peacekeeping force is in place, but many, particularly the rebel leadership, are openly skeptical of Mr. Taylor's assurances.

Nigeria has offered Mr. Taylor asylum.

Also on the ministers' agenda is laying the groundwork for the arrival of 15-hundred Nigerian peacekeepers Monday. A military planning team is already in Monrovia.

Meanwhile, heavy fighting is reported out of Monrovia near a key bridge leading into the city's center. (SIGNED)

NEB/SS/MAR/MEM/FC