Taylor denies rumours of coup and assassination plot

Liberia President Charles Taylor on Monday denied rumours that there was a coup attempt and a plot to kill him, news organisations reported.

"There have been rumours about an assassination attempt on my life, but the information is not true," The Inquirer newspaper quoted Taylor as saying. "There has never been a plot (attempt) on my life, though there are plans to assassinate me," he added.

"We know this because we have received information from the United States that some people are collecting money to pay individuals to carry this out," BBC reported him as saying.

Taylor also told journalists on Monday that he would not attend the upcoming Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit in Dakar, Senegal "given the prevailing situation in the country".

Addressing journalists at Monrovia International Airport where he met his Malian counterpart Alpha Konare, Taylor said he had briefed Konare on recent developments in the fighting between government and dissident forces, the PanAfrican News Agency reported.

According to BBC, the intensified fighting in the area near the borders of Sierra Leone and Guinea with rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) also made it impossible for him to go to Senegal for the summit.

He said that two political rivals, Alhaji Kromah and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, were backing the LURD rebels who have been fighting to overthrow Taylor since 1998. Sirleaf denied the statement. "There is absolutely no proof. I'm not part of the Lofa [northern Liberia] invasion. I don't know the leaders. I have nothing to do with what they are doing," Sirleaf said on BBB on Tuesday. "Our battle is political," she added.

Over the past weeks armed factions have stepped up their attacks in the north and northwest of the country. The government says up to 15,000 people have been displaced in recent weeks.