MONROVIA, Liberia ? “Jimmyboy” fought for warlord-turned-President Charles Taylor for 14 years, first as a teenage rebel, and later in his elite Anti-Terrorist Unit. Now the 28-year-old wants to lay down his automatic rifle, but not before he receives — or takes — a “reward of service.”

Since Taylor pledged last month to resign on condition peacekeepers are deployed, the feared and loathed militias that have been key to his survival through a decade of turmoil have begun to unravel, combatants and residents say. This raises the prospect of a gaping power vacuum — and the possibility of renewed bloodshed.

Several current and former fighters interviewed by The Associated Press warned of a violent looting spree in the West African nation unless they receive retirement payoffs before the leader they affectionately call “Pappy” departs.

“Taylor is leaving us, and I have to think about my future,” Jimmyboy said, his black bullet-proof vest loaded with ammunition. “There will be trouble. We want a reward of service and we hope Pappy will give it to us.

“But if he doesn’t, we will have to take it ourselves,” added Jimmyboy, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his military nickname.

Threats like these from fighters who see no future without Taylor underline the urgency of appeals by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European leaders and Liberians themselves for international peacekeepers to prevent a descent into anarchy.

“Everybody is concerned about what will happen between now and when the first peacekeepers arrive on the ground,” said David Parker, British aid coordinator for the European Union in Monrovia. “The potential for meltdown in the capital still exists.”

President Bush, who wrapped up a five-day Africa tour Saturday, is under increasing pressure to send troops to Liberia, founded 150 years ago by freed American slaves.

Since Monday, a team of U.S. advisers has visited Liberian refugee camps, ports and landing strips to assess the possibility of sending troops and humanitarian aid. More U.S. assessors are in Ghana, to coordinate with a West African bloc that has promised to send 1,500 soldiers in less than two weeks.

A maimed ex-combatant pushes the wheelchair of another near the U.S. Embassy in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, as they protest against lack of pay. More than a thousand veterans of Liberia's bloody civil war demonstrated Friday in Monrovia, citing lack of pay and harassment from civilians.