Rebel Taylor Aspires to Lead African Nation : Liberia: He’s U.S.-educated, described as vain and authoritarian--and faces charges of embezzlement.

The Liberian rebellion that threatens to overthrow the 10-year regime of Samuel K. Doe is led by Charles McArthur Taylor, a self-described “church-going Christian” who wears a magic amulet around his neck to ward off bullets.

Taylor calls himself a “die-hard capitalist” who wants only to restore democracy, honor and Christian values to Liberia after a decade of corruption under Doe. But U.S. officials remain profoundly suspicious of the rebel leader, whose movement has alleged financial ties to Libya and who says he has no intention of sharing power with anyone after ousting his longtime rival.

The U.S.-educated Taylor, 42, served for three years as a Cabinet minister in Doe’s government before vanishing in 1983 amid accusations that he embezzled nearly $1 million from the Liberian treasury. Interpol, the international police agency, tracked him down to the United States and he was picked up by U.S. authorities in May, 1984, on a Liberian extradition warrant.

He escaped from a Massachusetts jail in 1985 to avoid trial on the Liberian charges and later appeared in the West African nations of Ghana, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, where he put together the rebel band now approaching the Liberian capital of Monrovia.

Those who knew him as a student organizer in Massachusetts and a Cabinet officer in Liberia describe him as vain, authoritarian and not too bright, according to U.S. officials who are compiling biographical data on the figure who may soon lead the impoverished African nation founded by former American slaves in 1847.

Taylor was born and raised in Liberia but, like many of the descendants of former slaves who refer to themselves as Americo-Liberians, went to the United States for his higher education.

According to school records, Taylor was graduated from Bentley College, a little-known business school in Waltham, Mass., with a degree in economics in 1977. Peter Kent, a college official, said a quick canvass of faculty members could find none who remembered the Liberian undergraduate.

After graduation, Taylor apparently stayed in the Boston area and was active with the Union of Liberian Assns. in the Americas, according to a former official of the group who testified at Taylor’s extradition hearing in 1984.

Taylor himself said last month that at the time of the Doe-led coup that toppled former Liberian President William R. Tolbert Jr., he had been president of the U.S.-based National Liberian Liberation Movement.

At a press conference in the village of Tapeta, Liberia, on May 18, Taylor accused Doe of illegally holding power after leading the 1980 rebellion of junior army officers. Back then, Doe was a 30-year-old master sergeant.

“That boy was supposed to return his little self to the barracks and he reneged,” Taylor said.

After seizing power, Doe invited Taylor to return to Liberia to serve as director general of Liberia’s General Services Agency. Taylor served in the post from April, 1980, to September, 1983, when he vanished after allegedly diverting $922,000 in government funds to a private bank account in New York controlled by a fictitious firm called International Earth-Moving Equipment Inc.

The Liberian government, backed by the U.S. Justice Department, sought Taylor for extradition to Monrovia to face trial on embezzlement charges. When he was traced by Interpol and arrested in Somerville, Mass., Taylor did not ask for bail, saying he feared for his life if he were to be released.

At an extradition hearing that September, Taylor’s lawyer, former Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark, said that the charges against Taylor were political and warned that the former Liberian official would be murdered if he were returned to his native country.

A U.S. magistrate ordered Taylor extradited in March, 1985, but he escaped from prison before he could be transported. When he turned up later that year in Ghana, U.S. officials dropped the extradition warrant against him because he was already outside of the United States.

“I skipped from jail to escape Doe’s lies,” Taylor said at last month’s press conference.

“I’m in for peace but the peace I’m in for is the peace that does not involve Samuel Doe,” Taylor said in a recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. “Now we can talk all the peace in the world, but Doe is in no position to talk to our Liberians about peace.”

Taylor said he felt no need to include other Liberian dissidents in any government he might form, and refused to promise elections any time soon. He gave no other hints as to the nature of the regime he might establish, except that he wanted to maintain friendly ties to the United States.

LIBERIA At-a-Glance LAND Lying between Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the West African nation of Liberia covers 37,743 square miles. The coastal plain gives way to rocky cliffs, and strong tides make access to the Atlantic Ocean difficult. The highest elevations are in the northern highlands, which rise up to 4,500 feet. THE PEOPLE The population is estimated at more than 2.5 million, including 16 principal tribal groups and about 50,000 descendants of freed American slaves who founded the country. English is the official language. The vast majority of the country practices traditional African religions. ECONOMY Even before a 5-month-old guerrilla war began, the economy was near collapse, though the country possesses some of the richest iron ore in the world. Liberia has been unable to pay its foreign debt, and it has been suspended by the International Monetary Fund. Though the currency is tied to the U.S. dollar, little money is in circulation, driving up prices and increasing the value of the few dollars available. Though mining earns more than 64 percent of Liberia’s foreign exchange, agricultural remains the main employer. HISTORY In 1822, freed American slaves visited Liberia and began settlements. They declared Liberia an independent republic in 1847. Descendants of the freed slaves, called Americo-Liberians, dominated the country until then-Master Sgt. Samuel Doe led a military coup on April 12, 1979. He was popular with the majority of Liberians, who resented the dominance of the Americo-Liberians. Doe headed a military government until October 1985, when elections were held. He claimed a victory, but opposition parties and independent observers said the vote was rigged. On Dec. 24, 1989, former Doe aide Charles Taylor invaded with a small band of men from Ivory Coast. Taylor said he intended to topple Doe’s government.