U.S. has responsibility, UN official says in Chicago

As former Liberian President Charles Taylor spent his first day inexile, a top aide to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan saidhere Tuesday that the United States has a responsibility to helpstabilize the country first settled by former American slaves in the1820s.

"This is a case where the United States does have a responsibility. . . to give Liberia that second chance that it truly deserves,"said Ed Mortimer, Annan's director of communications. Three U.S.warships wait off of the Liberian coast.

"There is a place for this kind of temporary stabilizing force tobring [Liberia] to the point where the UN can take it over," Mortimersaid.

Mortimer praised …