However, he insisted that the transition must be orderly.

"We believe that it is not unreasonable to request that there be an orderly exit from power," Taylor said. Nigerian President Obasanjo also demanded an orderly transition, saying that he had extended an invitation to Taylor.

"Taylor has a safe haven in Nigeria any time he chooses," he promised.

Obasanjo left Nigeria for Monrovia on Sunday morning to discuss Taylor's exit from the war-torn west African country.

US President George W. Bush has made several calls for Taylor to stand down. On Saturday in a broadcast interview with CNN, Bushsaid Taylor "needs to go in order to create the conditions necessary for a peaceful solution" in Liberia.

But the Liberian president stressed that he would leave only when US peacekeepers are in place.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Friday approved the setting up of a 3,000-strong force for Liberia and called on the United States, South Africa and Morocco to provide the extra troops to make it up to 5,000. The United States has so far sent an assessment team to Liberia to evaluate the need for a force.

Taylor has been indicted for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone by a UN-mandated court. Initially he refused to accede to rebel and international demands that he steps aside, leading to Liberia's peace process being frozen.

Two rebel groups are fighting to oust Taylor and his government.The renewed fighting broke out in late June between the rebels andthe Liberian government troops had left some 700 people dead and over 1,000 injured, making it the worst phase in the four-year bloody civil war in the country.

The Liberian civil war, which lasted about 15 years and claimedat least 200,000 lives, flared up again in 1998 following attacks launched by the LURD rebels in northern Liberia.

Civil war over the past decade has made Liberia among the most miserable places in the world and the latest unrest since 1998 has forced some 300,000 Liberians to flee to neighboring countries and claimed thousands more lives.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2003)