Embattled Liberian President Charles Taylor accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria to end a ruinous civil war but gave no indication when he would leave and stressed the need for an orderly departure. "We have accepted it," said Taylor, after an emergency meeting with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo at Monrovia's Robertsfield airport. "We believe it is not unreasonable to request that there will be an orderly exit from power," he said, appealing for "necessary actions to prevent chaos and disruption". Taylor also urged Washington to speedily intervene to ensure a smooth transition, saying: "We invite the United States to come full force and assist this process in bringing peace back to Liberia. "We believe that it's going to help in the long run, in the short run and in the middle term," the Liberian leader said. Taylor currently controls a mere fifth of his country and the capital Monrovia is ringed by rebel forces. Obasanjo, who arrived into the Liberian capital in the afternoon on a flying visit, said moments earlier that "we have extended an invitation to President Charles Taylor... he has not hesitated to accept." That offer included "safe haven in Nigeria," Obasanjo said. The asylum offer came amid growing calls for Taylor to step down to end the civil war in Liberia which pits his government against two rebel movements and has left thousands dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more. The Nigerian leader, whose country has played a leading role in trying to resolve the Liberian conflict, said his invitation was a "necessary gesture for peace" but warned that he would "not accept to be harassed by anybody or any organisation for inviting Charles Taylor to Nigeria". Taylor has been indicted for war crimes by a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone for his alleged role in that country's barbaric decade-long civil war. Obasanjo echoed Taylor in calling for an orderly departure. "How does the exit take place?" he asked. "We believe that the exit should not take place in confusion, in such a way that (it) will lead to more bloodshed." Obasanjo also expressed confidence that peace would be "achieved in a very short time". Nigeria had despatched troops to Liberia and given asylum to two players in an earlier seven-year civil war, which ended with Taylor's election in 1997. "We made sacrifices in human terms and material terms," Obasanjo said, adding that the asylum offer was made in part to prevent observers from asking "why we haven't finished the job". Obasanjo thanked the international community for considering the deployment of a peacekeeping mission to Liberia, saying that although west Africa "may have the men... we may not have adequate resources in material terms or in financial terms". UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and France are among the main backers of the proposed force. After addressing a joint press conference with Taylor, Obasanjo left for Nigeria, as several thousand supporters of the Liberian president who had gathered at the airport sang gospel hymns to bid him farewell. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Liberian President Charles Taylor (R) surrounded by bodyguards. (AFP/File/Georges Gobet)