Taylor leaving 'to end bloodshed'

Mr Taylor does not say when he will go abroad

Charles Taylor has told the people of Liberia he will sacrifice his presidency to stop the bloodshed in the country.

In a solemn farewell address, recorded at his home and to be broadcast later on Sunday, Mr Taylor said: "As I look at people dying, I must stop fighting.

"I stop now, because above all else, you the people count," he said sitting in front of a Liberian flag.

The statement comes on the eve of Mr Taylor's promised resignation following pressure from the United States and West African leaders.

In his address, Mr Taylor accuses of America of forcing him out, but does not say when he will go abroad.

The 15-minute address ends with a declaration: "I say, God willing, I will be back."

'Resignation inevitable'

"The solution to the problem in Liberia cannot be for the president of the United States to ask the president of Liberia to leave," Mr Taylor said.

"I have decided to leave because for the first time in the history, almost, of the world, the US is using food and other things as a weapon against the Liberian people.

CHARLES TAYLOR I stop now, because above all else, you the people count Former warlord Won 1997 elections Accused of backing brutal Sierra Leone rebels Full profile In pictures: Troops welcomed Liberia's lost childhoods

"Because if the administration, as President Bush says, that they will not step on this soil, it will do nothing as long as I'm here, this further threatens your survival as a people and as I have said I can no longer see you suffer."

The BBC's Barnaby Philips in Monrovia said it was now almost inevitable that Mr Taylor would resign on Monday.

There is a feeling that if Mr Taylor's departure will stop the bloodshed, then it has to be a good thing because anything is better than the present, our correspondent says.

On Saturday, Mr Taylor bid farewell to members of his National Patriotic Party in the capital, Monrovia, saying his forced departure from his elected post is a "rape of democracy".

Liberia's civilians desperately need humanitarian relief

He spent what should be his penultimate day as head of state at home receiving visitors.

Nigeria, which is leading the West African peacekeeping force being deployed in Liberia, has offered to grant Mr Taylor asylum.

Mr Taylor has in the past objected to leaving Liberia because he is wanted by the UN-backed special war crimes court in neighbouring Sierra Leone for backing rebels there who carried out atrocities.

Mr Taylor has said he will hand power to Vice-President Moses Blah - an ally from his days of guerrilla training in Libya.

West African officials say Mr Blah's spell in office would be short - possibly just days - as a new interim president is chosen at peace talks in Ghana.

Aid blocked

Liberia's main rebel group is under pressure to fulfil its own peace commitment to allow peacekeepers and aid agencies into its territory.

The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) rebels are holding the strategically important port area of the capital.

Enlarge Map

Aid workers say the situation is critical with warehouses looted and fighting blocking the delivery of fresh food and medical aid.

A US military envoy and Nigerian peacekeepers are in daily contact with the rebels, trying to ease tension.

Our correspondent says that the port area is Lurd's prize possession and it is hard to see them pulling out until President Taylor leaves the country.

A humanitarian crisis has also been reported by the International Red Cross in the port city of Buchanan, to the east.

The city is being held by another rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model).

More than 8,000 people have taken refuge in the Catholic Mission compound there, which is said to have run out of food and water.