Liberian President Charles Taylor has bid farewell to his supporters, ahead of his forced resignation due on Monday. Speaking to cheering members of his National Patriotic Party in Monrovia on Saturday, Taylor said the campaign to remove him amounted to a "rape of democracy". However the president said he was standing down in the interest of the Liberian people. The statement comes as fighting continues in parts of the country and the Red Cross says humanitarian situation is particularly desperate in Liberia's second city - the port of Buchanan. Taylor in his address confirmed that he would leave office on Monday under the terms of an internationally-backed peace plan. He also said he would go into exile - a demand made by Liberian rebel groups for an end to hostilities in Liberia. **Bloodshed*** However the Liberian president, who has been indicted for war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone, did not say when he would leave the country. Nigeria, which is leading a West-African peacekeeping force being deployed in Liberia, has offered to grant him asylum. The BBC's Barnaby Phillips in Monrovia says the president's supporters regard him as the victim of the American and British governments who are insisting on his departure. His spokesman has warned that Taylor's departure could be followed by more bloodshed, involving his demoralised fighters. "Once the president leaves, our boys might be stigmatised. If that is the case, you must expect chaos. Hell might just break loose," said Vaani Passawe. Taylor has said he will hand power to Vice-President Moses Blah - an ally from his days of guerrilla training in Libya. The main rebels group - Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) - says it will not accept him as a successor and will keep on fighting. But West African officials say that Mr Blah's stay would only be short, possibly just days, before a new interim president is chosen at peace talks in Ghana among government officials and rebels. **Aid needed*** In Buchanan fighting has been taking place between rebels of the Model movement, who hold the city, and government forces. More than 8,000 people have taken refuge in the Catholic Mission compound, which is said to have run out of food and water. Meanwhile, Lurd is facing pressure to fulfil its commitments to allow aid into Monrovia. The rebels have pledged to turn over the city's port to peacekeepers when they arrive in adequate numbers. With aid ships heading for Monrovia, the port, and its warehouses, are crucial to feeding hundreds of thousands of famished civilians on the cut-off government side of Monrovia. Ahead of any deal, the International Red Cross made a second trip across Monrovia's front lines on Saturday, ferrying medical kits and medicine to the rebel side. Representatives said civilians there have food but cannot reach the main hospitals on the government side. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Liberian President Charles Taylor waves to supporters after leaving a meeting where he bid farewell to party supporters at the party headquarters in the Liberian capital Monrovia, Saturday, Aug 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)