Taylor says no to power-sharing

President Charles Taylor has warned that all those seeking to ascend to power in Liberia "through the barrel of the gun" will not succeed and urged them to bid for the country's top seat by participating in the 2003 presidential elections.

Speaking on Friday in the capital, Monrovia, Taylor said he would not engage in discussions on power-sharing, an option that was proposed last week by Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), an armed group that has been fighting for Taylor's overthrow since 1998, Radio Liberia reported. The president instead called on them to lay down their arms.

LURD spokesman Charles Bennie told IRIN on Wednesday that his group was willing to hold talks leading to the creation of an interim government on condition that the discussion did not include Taylor. Taylor's rejection of the LURD offer followed one made earlier in the week by Liberian Vice-President Moses Blah who described the idea as "mischievous and misguided".

The president also said the country's upcoming national reconciliation conference, slated for July, would strictly focus on deep-rooted problems that have led to the many crises, and not on the 2003 elections, the pro-Taylor radio reported.