Taylor denies training Gambian rebels

President Charles Taylor of Liberia denied at a news conference on Saturday in Banjul that Monrovia was training rebels to destabilise the Gambian government, PANA reported. Taylor, who ended a two-day visit to The Gambia on Saturday, was reacting to allegations that Monrovia was providing military training for Gambian rebels, including Kukoi Samba Sagna, who led an unsuccessful bid to topple former president Dawda Jawara in 1981. PANA said crises in West Africa, including fighting along the border between Liberia and Guinea, dominated the discussions between Taylor and Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. PANA said that, according to a communique signed by the two leaders, Taylor asked Jammeh to intervene so that an understanding could be reached as soon as possible between the Liberian leader and Guinea's president, General Lansana Conte. Relations between the governments of Guinea and Liberia are tense. Each accuses the other of backing rebels opposed to it.