MONROVIA, Liberia — West African peacekeeping forces drove into Liberia’s rebel-besieged, famished capital yesterday to deafening cheers from its residents.
The triumphant arrival came as President Charles Taylor announced his successor — a step toward the leader’s much-anticipated resignation and toward ending two months of warfare in Monrovia that has left at least 1,000 persons dead.
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Mr. Taylor said in a letter to parliament that he would hand power to Vice President Moses Blah. Lawmakers approved the decision, paving the way for Mr. Taylor’s stepping down Monday, as promised.
Earlier yesterday, more than 100 Nigerian troops blew kisses and waved handkerchiefs as they traveled 30 miles from their airport base into Monrovia in white armored personnel carriers, trucks and sport utility vehicles.
Thousands of Liberians crammed the shoulders of the roads along the way, chanting, “We want peace, no more war.”
“I’m going with them,” said Prince Phillip, a young man running alongside the convoy. “We need to eat; we’re tired of this war.”
The city’s desperate people have been clamoring for rescue from peacekeepers, meant to come between the warring parties and open up humanitarian corridors from the rebel-held port, allowing food and aid to flow into Monrovia.
Peacekeepers also are to oversee Mr. Taylor’s departure from the country.
What is to happen next is not clear. Tentative plans discussed in the United Nations Security Council call for elections in mid-October for a permanent government.
But analysts doubt that the elections will take place as scheduled because none of the leaders from the government or the two main rebel groups would be accepted by the Liberian people.
“If elections were held by mid-October, this could bring further bloodshed,” said Nile Gardiner, an Africa specialist at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
Beset by rebels fighting to oust him and indicted for war crimes, Mr. Taylor faces mounting international pressure to leave the country. He has accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria, but has set no date for leaving.
In the letter to parliament, Mr. Taylor said his government had been the victim of an “international conspiracy,” citing support by neighboring countries for rebel factions and U.N.-imposed arms and diamond embargoes.
“This orchestration has prevented me from carrying out my constitutional responsibilities of defending the country and providing essential social services for the people,” he said in the letter, which was read to reporters.
“Therefore I, as president of this noble republic, can no longer preside over the suffering and humiliation of the Liberian public.”
West African leaders have promised an eventual 3,250-strong peace force in Liberia. Nearly 500 Nigerian soldiers with five armored vehicles have arrived at the airport outside Monrovia.
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