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LIBERIA: Taylor says no to foreign peacekeepers

ABIDJAN, 17 September (IRIN) - Liberian President Charles Taylor on Monday reiterated his opposition to calls by for an international peacekeeping force to end the violent conflict in his country.

"There will be no intervention force in Liberia as long as I am president," news agencies Taylor him as saying. "Anybody who sets foot on Liberian soil without the consent of this government must be prepared to fight."

"Nobody will be permitted to treat this government as though it is a transitional government," he added.

In an address to the final plenary session of a national reconciliation conference that has been going on near the capital, Monrovia, (but has been boycotted by rebels and key opposition figures) Taylor said that proposed parliamentary and presidential elections would be held in October 2003.

Regional authorities, including the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS), and opponents of the Taylor government have suggested that a regional or international force be invited into Liberia to make peace between government forces and rebels.

The UN Mission to Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) helped bring peace to that country, a neighbour of Liberia's, after a decade of war.

Meanwhile, Taylor's opponents, including the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), have expressed skepticism about the president's reported lifting of a State of Emergency on Saturday.

The LURD, which has been fighting since 1998, said it would not affect their operations and the fighting would continue.

It also denied claims by the Liberian government that it had retaken the central town of Bopolu in Gbarpolu County and was advancing on the rebel-held town of Zorzor, near the Guinean border.

Prominent opposition figures in exile said Taylor's reported agreement to lift the State of Emergency was not sincere, and that he had made and broken promises before.

[ENDS]

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