Liberian president plans to step down, but what next?

On Saturday, a few hundred people gathered to catch a glimpse of Taylor as he said farewell to the executive committee of his party. Party loyalists were there, chanting and singing the president's praises, but many had come just for a final glimpse of their warlord-president.

"I came to see him for the last time," said Joseph Sumo Sr. "It's good that he's stepping down because people say he is the problem here."

One danger for Liberia is that the president will step down, but refuse to leave the country and continue to control Blah and the country from behind the scenes. Presidential aides have indicated that the Liberian leader will not leave until war-crimes charges against him in neighboring Sierra Leone are dropped.

Nor does anyone know much about Blah, or how he may yield his new power. With most government agencies looted or destroyed, their staff scattered, the presidency has become the nexus of the Liberian government.

Speaking to the Associated Press last week, Blah said he would share power with rebels inside Liberia and those outside, now in Accra.

"Let bygones be bygones," he said. "If there is power, we can share it."

But Blah has been largely silent about his plans since being named Taylor's successor.

The former general is one of Taylor's oldest companions. He trained with the president in Libya before crossing with Taylor into Liberia from neighboring Ivory Coast in 1989. Blah, who was known as a tough guerrilla commander under Taylor, was appointed vice president in 2000.

There is also evidence that the Liberian government is continuing to arm itself, despite the cease-fire.

Early last Thursday, a Boeing 707 carrying weapons landed at the airport outside Monrovia. The weapons were confiscated by Nigerian peacekeepers. But The Washington Post reported that this was the second such shipment in recent weeks, both of which, the Post reported, came from Libya.

At the Paynesville Community School on the outskirts of Monrovia, 2,500 displaced people still spend their nights crammed together in the school's few rooms and their days foraging for food in nearby swamps.

They will rejoice if Taylor leaves, they say, but no one is yet returning home. They do not trust Blah or the rebels.

"Most Liberians are saying there should be a United Nations trusteeship," says Byron Wilson, executive director of Youth Aid, a local NGO helping the displaced here. Like many of the city's local aid workers, he has had to relocate. "We want someone neutral."

"Forget the Constitution," chimes in Randolph Bernard, another displaced man. "Liberian law is already broken. According to the Constitution, no one who raises arms against the state should be president," he says with a laugh.

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