ABSTRACT
ON 11 July a delegation from Taylor's NPFL arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on board a captured fishing-boat flying the NPFL's red and black scorpion flag. Their intention was to give the impression that they were prepared to discuss a negotiated end to the war. Taylor was under pressure. The United States had assured him, through the twice daily radio contacts the Monrovia embassy had with the NPFL, that it was still trying to make Doe leave by persuading him that his departure would save lives. But the NPFL was beginning to feel the Americans had deceived them by saying that they could convince the president to leave. The rebels later claimed they had deliberately slowed their advance from Buchanan in May on the understanding that US pressure would force Doe to resign and leave the country.
