Nigeria to give up Charles Taylor

[WUOrevolt]

Nigeria to give up Charles Taylor

Charles Taylor promised Liberians he would return
Nigeria is to hand over to Liberia its exiled former leader and war crimes suspect, Charles Taylor.
Nigeria's president said Liberia's new government, which had formally sought Mr Taylor's extradition, was free to take him into custody.

Mr Taylor faces war crimes charges over his role in the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

He went into exile in Nigeria in 2003 as part of a deal to end 14 years of civil war in Liberia.

Liberia has indicated it could send him straight to Sierra Leone once Nigeria hands him over.

This is a great day for justice, not only for the victims of Sierra Leone's brutal war

Human Rights Watch


Taylor: Have Your Say
Reactions in quotes

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who took office in January after winning elections late last year, has previously said her priority was to rebuild Liberia, rather than put Mr Taylor on trial.

The 15,000 United Nations peacekeepers in Liberia are under instructions to arrest Mr Taylor and transfer him to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone if he sets foot on Liberian soil.

'Timing'

The Nigerian statement said: "President Olusegun Obasanjo has today, 25 March, informed President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf that the government of Liberia is free to take former President Charles Taylor into custody."

The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says Mr Obasanjo insisted on asking the advice of other African leaders involved in brokering the Liberian peace agreement in 2003 before making his decision.

TAYLOR TIMELINE

1989: Launches rebellion
1991: RUF rebellion starts in Sierra Leone
1995: Peace deal signed
1997: Elected president
1999: Lurd starts rebellion to oust Taylor
June 2003: Arrest warrant issued
August 2003: Steps down, goes into exile in Nigeria


Profile: Charles Taylor
Taylor ripples across region

Charles Taylor's exile was a crucial part of that deal.

Leaders of the African Union and West African regional grouping Ecowas had raised no substantive objection to the move, the Nigerian statement said.

The statement said that Mr Obasanjo's only objections to surrendering Mr Taylor had been to do with "timing and continued peace in Liberia".

It did not say when or how he would be handed over.

Mr Obasanjo had previously refused to send Mr Taylor to Sierra Leone, saying he would only extradite him following a request from an elected Liberian leader.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf visited Nigeria earlier this month and the extradition request was made earlier in March.

"We must recognise that Liberia is greater than any one person, tribe or group of people," she said in Monrovia, following news of the Nigerian announcement.

A spokesman for Mr Taylor said Nigeria's move was in breach of the 2003 deal.

"African leaders cannot afford to renege on that agreement," the spokesman, Sylvester Paasewe, told Reuters news agency.

Human Rights Watch said: "This is a great day for justice, not only for the victims of Sierra Leone's brutal war but also for the fight against impunity which has devastated so many lives in West Africa."

'Immunity'

Tens of thousands of people died in the interlinked conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia.


Charles Taylor's rise and fall


In pictures


Mr Taylor is accused of selling diamonds and buying weapons for Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels, who were notorious for hacking off the hands and legs of civilians during a 10-year war.

He also started the Liberian civil war in 1989, before being elected president in 1997.

Mr Taylor has been living with his 100-strong entourage in the south-eastern Nigerian city of Calabar since mid-2003.

His supporters have said that he has immunity from prosecution under the peace deal which saw him step down.

But human rights activists accuse him of breaking the terms of that deal by trying to influence Liberian politics.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4845088.stm

[Sankara1983]

This murderer should spend the rest of his life in prison. He should be thought of as and treated like the petty warlord he is, not a head of state or "businessman."

Pat Robertson was one of Taylor's biggest cheerleaders because they both share the same Protestant fundamentalist beliefs.

To learn more about Taylor's crimes (and everyone should; he is key in understanding the problems plaguing West Africa), see The Perspective (http://www.theperspective.org), one of the finest independent news websites I have found for any country.

[WUOrevolt]

Woah, i didnt know he was backed by Pat Robertson.

[ChemicalBrother]

They should nab Sammy Doe too.

These bastards will pay, fuck the Haj.

Take them out back and put a 7.62 NATO round through his head.

Did you know he was educated with a degree in Economics in the United States?

[Sankara1983]

Doe is long dead. He was executed during the 1990 coup. The entire thing was filmed, and his dismembered body parts were paraded through Monrovia in a wheelbarrow by Prince Johnson's thugs.

[Cheung Mo]

Charles Taylor should be either killed or forced to spend the rest of his life with Pat Robertson's genitals shoved up his various orifices.

As for Nigeria's government, All I see is a bunch of fundie-fuck and Islamist kooks arguing over how to best oppress women, homosexuals, and religious minorities.

Churchill's memories deserve one nasty lyching for his role in the overthrow of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh's government, but Nigeria proves that -- if anything -- he was too charitable in his analysis of democracy.

[Janus]

Charles Taylor has run away and the US has warned that talks between it and Nigeria may not go ahead.


Originally posted by BBC News
The US has indicated that talks between the US and Nigerian presidents may not go ahead after Liberia's ex-leader disappeared while in exile in Nigeria.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said reports of Charles Taylor's escape were a matter of "utmost seriousness".

US President George W Bush is due to meet his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo in Washington on Wednesday.

The chief prosecutor of the UN-backed war crimes court condemned the reported escape of the alleged war criminal.

Desmond da Silva from the special tribunal in Sierra Leone described it as "an affront to justice".

And United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he is deeply concerned by reports that Mr Taylor has gone missing.

The news of Mr Taylor's disappearance from a villa where he lived came just 48 hours after Nigeria had said that Liberia was free to "take Taylor into custody".

Mr Taylor was indicted on 17 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, concerning his alleged backing for Sierra Leone's rebels, shortly before stepping down in 2003. He resigned under a under a deal to end the Liberian civil war, which he started in 1989, going into exile in Calabar, in south-eastern Nigeria.

Rice warning

White House spokesman Scott McLellan refused to say whether the planned meeting between Mr Bush and Mr Obasanjo would go ahead.
Mr McLellan said that right now Washington was "looking for answers from the Nigerian government about the whereabouts of Charles Taylor".

He added that it was the responsibility of the Nigerian government to see that Mr Taylor was handed over to the tribunal in Sierra Leone.

Ms Rice, meanwhile, told a congressional panel that Washington would take the matter very seriously "if indeed he (Mr Taylor) had fled."

She stressed that Nigeria had made a commitment that Mr Taylor would be monitored while in exile.

Ms Rice did not respond to a suggestion by one of the senators that it would be inappropriate to hold the Bush-Obasanjo talks under the circumstances.

Shock

Mr Taylor's whereabouts are not clear but his spiritual advisor Kilari Anand Paul told the BBC News website that Mr Taylor was in the Liberian bush, from where he first launched his rebellion.

He also said the former Liberian leader would be happy to face justice in The Hague but not in Sierra Leone.

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo is "very shocked" by Mr Taylor's disappearance on Monday, Information Minister Frank Nweke told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

Nigeria has set up a panel to investigate the matter, and to establish whether he escaped or was abducted, Mr Nweke said.

Lobby group Human Rights Watch says Mr Taylor's disappearance is a "disgrace".

[Janus]

Taylor has been extradited to Liberia.


Originally posted by BBC News
A plane carrying exiled former Liberian president and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor has arrived in his home country from Nigeria.
He has boarded a UN helicopter which is expected to fly to Sierra Leone, where he is wanted by the war crimes tribunal for his alleged role in the civil war.

He was extradited from Nigeria after he was caught trying to escape custody - ending his exile of nearly three years.

Nigeria has denied it was negligent in the way it handled Mr Taylor.

The former leader faces 17 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over his alleged role in the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, where he is accused of backing rebels notorious for mutilating civilians.
The tribunal's top prosecutor Desmond de Silva told the BBC he was delighted he had been arrested.

Tribunal officials say extra troops are due to arrive in Sierra Leone to reinforce security at the UN-backed court - where a cell is waiting for him, reports the BBC's Mark Doyle in Monrovia.

Border check

Mr Taylor had been in exile in Nigeria since 2003 after a deal ending Liberia's civil war.

He went missing on Monday from his southern villa after the country announced Liberia was free to detain him.
Mr Taylor was detained earlier by security forces in the town of Gamboru-Ngala, close to the Cameroon border in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno.

The former Liberian leader had arrived at the frontier in a Range Rover jeep with diplomatic corps number plates, a trader working at the Gamboru-Ngala border post told AFP news agency.

"He was wearing a white flowing robe," said Babagana Alhaji Kata.

"He passed through immigration but when he reached customs they were suspicious and they insisted on searching the jeep, where they found a large amount of US dollars.

"After a further search they discovered he was Charles Taylor."

Nigeria has arrested Mr Taylor's Nigerian guards and has launched an investigation.

'Vindicated'

News of Mr Taylor's capture came just before Mr Obasanjo left for a visit to the US for talks with President George W Bush.

Mr Bush welcomed the capture and said he appreciated Nigeria's work to apprehend him, during their meeting.

For his part, Mr Obasanjo denied Nigeria had been "negligent" in its handling of the suspect, and said earlier he felt "vindicated" by the capture.

Those who had suggested Nigeria may have been complicit in Mr Taylor's initial escape were wrong and owed him an apology, he added.

[Janus]

Taylor trial may move to The Hague.


Originally posted by BBC News
Sierra Leone's war crimes tribunal has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to host the trial of ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor.
The ICC said Sierra Leone's request to use The Hague as a venue was being considered, but stressed the African tribunal would still control the case.

The request has been backed by Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Mr Taylor, who was captured on Wednesday in Nigeria, faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The 11 counts, including responsibility for murder, rape and mutilation, relate to his alleged role fomenting war in Sierra Leone.

The former president's spiritual adviser, Kilari Anand Paul, has said Mr Taylor would be happy to face a trial in The Hague.

Instability fear

ICC spokesman Ernest Sagaga told the BBC News website that the ICC was examining the request from the Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal to hold proceedings on its premises.

"It would be still under the jurisdiction of the Special Court for Sierra Leone," he said.
Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij said the Sierra Leone tribunal was concerned that if Mr Taylor's trial was held in the capital, Freetown, it could lead to instability in the region.

The Netherlands was willing to co-operate with a trial at The Hague provided certain conditions were met, Mr Vermeij said.

US President George Bush said on Wednesday that he was keen for the trial to be moved, but to do so would require a UN Security Council resolution.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believed it could be passed "relatively quickly", he added.

Guerrilla support

In a radio address to the nation, President Johnson-Sirleaf supported the moves to hold Mr Taylor's trial outside neighbouring Sierra Leone.


"We still expect a resolution from the Security Council that will allow a change in venue to a more conducive environment, such as the international court at The Hague," she said.

Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf said she had stressed that the UN had to ensure Mr Taylor was allowed "the right of a vigorous self-defence".

Others alleged to have committed war crimes in Sierra Leone are already on trial in Freetown.

However, observers fear Mr Taylor may still be able to mobilise a guerrilla army, capable of attacking the court in Freetown from the surrounding hills.

His supporters argue that a trial in Freetown could not be fair, even if the judges were international, because of the hatred felt by many Sierra Leoneans towards the man accused of starting their country's decade-long civil war.