United Nations, Oct 10: The UN Security Council expressed concern yesterday that Liberia's former President Charles Taylor "is still attempting to influence events" in the country from exile in Nigeria. After a briefing by assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping Hedi Annabi, the council said in a statement that "any interference from Taylor could threaten the carefully constructed peace agreement in Liberia."

Taylor, who led an insurgency in 1989 that plunged Liberia into 14 years of conflict, resigned from the presidency on August 11. He went into exile in the southern Nigerian jungle town of Calabar under international pressure following a three-month rebel siege of the capital that killed at least 1,000 civilians. Taylor's vice president, Moses Blah, leads an interim government that is scheduled to be replaced on October 14 by a power-sharing administration under a peace deal signed by rebels and the government.

At the high-level UN General Assembly session earlier this month, Liberian Foreign Minister Lewis Brown told a news agency that he doesn't believe Taylor can wield much influence.

US Ambassador John Negroponte, the current council president, told reporters Annabi corroborated that he is in communication with some of his supporters in Liberia, even though that is not consonant with the terms of his exile. Bureau Report