LAGOS, March 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has met his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki over the fate of exiled former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, a presidential statement said on Monday.

    The statement did not give details of Sunday night's meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja between Obasanjo and Mbeki, who was on his way home from Chile, where he had gone to attend the inauguration of the country's first female President Michelle Bachelet.

    In 2003, a group of African leaders led by Mbeki escorted Taylor from Liberia and handed him to Obasanjo on behalf of the international community, ending the west African country's 14-year-old civil war.

    Obasanjo "briefed President Mbeki on recent developments concerning Liberia, former President Charles Taylor and the recent visit to Nigeria by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf," the statement said.

    During her visit to Nigeria earlier this month, Taylor's successor, Johnson-Sirleaf did not make any public comments on the Taylor question, but unconfirmed reports claimed that she had written formally to ask for his release to her administration.

    Both the United States government and an UN-backed special court in Sierra Leone have mounted pressure on Nigeria to release Taylorso that he could face charges before the court.

    Obasanjo had insisted that his country would only release the former president if there was a request from an elected Liberian government.

    Last week, Nigerian Information Minister Frank Nweke confirmed that the two countries are working jointly to arrive at a decision on the Taylor issue. Enditem