Taylor accepts Nigerian asylum offer

Meanwhile, a team of US military experts left a base in Spain early Monday for the war-ravaged African nation to assess whether to deploy troops as part of a regional force, as the United Nations, Europe and the Liberians have sought. President Bush heads to Africa Monday for visits to five nations - including Nigeria.

Taylor, who has been indicted by a UN-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone, gave no timeframe Sunday for when he would quit power. Nor did not specify whether the deployment of a peacekeeping force was a condition for his departure.

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He said only that the deployment was "necessary... to prevent disruption."

The calls for a peaceful transition increased pressure on Bush to send US troops to enforce a cease-fire.

Holed up in the capital Monrovia, Taylor was under intense international pressure to step down. Bush said Saturday he would "not take 'no' for an answer."

The Bush administration also showed little enthusiasm for Taylor's acceptance of Nigeria's asylum offer.

White House spokesman Jimmy Orr said: "What the president has said is Mr. Taylor needs to leave and leave soon. He needs to leave so peace can be restored."

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo met Taylor at Monrovia's airport to offer him asylum.

"I thank my big brother for coming," Taylor said. "He has extended an invitation and we have accepted an invitation."

But, Taylor said, "it is not unreasonable to request that there be an orderly exit from power." He said US participation in an international peacekeeping force planned for Liberia was "crucial in every way."

Both Taylor and Obasanjo would not say when the Liberian president would step down, but Obasanjo said "we believe that it will not take place in the near future."

Meanwhile, a team of US military experts arrived in Liberia on Monday to assess whether to deploy troops as part of a peacekeeping force that would restore order to a nation torn by civil war.

About a dozen soldiers in combat garb, some carrying assault rifles, jumped out to be met by staffers from the embassy in Liberia - a west African nation founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves.