The prosecutor for the UN-backed special court in Sierra Leone,
Desmond de Silva, on Sunday asked Nigeria to arrest exiled former
Liberian president Charles Taylor.
Silva said in a statement obtained here that he had asked
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo "to take all necessary steps
to ensure that Charles Taylor is unable to abscond."
Obasanjo on Saturday agreed to return Taylor, accused of 17
counts of crimes against humanity by the court, to his homeland's
new administration after two years of pressure from the
international community, especially from the US government. But he
did not say when the extradition will take place.
"Until the indicted war criminal Charles Taylor is in the hands
of Liberian authorities to whom Nigeria is making Taylor available
for collection, the spotlight of the international community will
be upon Nigeria," Silva said.
"In particular, the watching world will wish to see Taylor held
in Nigerian detention to avoid the possibility of him using his
wealth and associates to slip away, with grave consequences to the
stability of the region."
Taylor has been living in Nigeria since August 2003 when he
accepted Nigeria's offer of safe exile as part of a deal, backed by
the US government, to end Liberia's 14-year civil war that killed
about 250,000 people, about 8 percent of the west African country's
population.
Originally, Obasanjo had pledged to protect Taylor with all his
might if Taylor stayed out of Liberian politics, and described the
reported 2-million-dollar universal offer by the US to capture
Taylor as being tantamount to state-sponsored terrorism.
But Obasanjo's attitude towards the Taylor issue changed in late
2004, when reports came out saying he wanted to amend the
constitution to be eligible for an extended or third term, which
was alleged to be opposed by the US government.
As described in Saturday's announcement, which came before
Obasanjo's visit to Washington scheduled for next week, Obasanjo
chose to agree that "Taylor can only be turned over, on request, to
a democratically-elected government of Liberia at a time that such
a government considers appropriate."
Taylor stoked a bloody civil war at home, but it is in
neighboring Sierra Leone that he is wanted on 17 counts of crimes
against humanity for supporting rebels in return for "bloody
diamonds" during its 1991-2002 civil war that killed some 50,000
people.
With his release, it's believed that the 58-year-old ex-warlord,
who now lives in the southeastern Nigerian city of Calabar with
about 70 relations and aides, will be sent directly to the court in
Sierra Leone's capital Freetown by the Liberian authorities.
Silva had on Saturday in a statement called it "a most
significant day for those who support the cause of international
justice around the world, and for the victims of so many conflicts
who have suffered so grievously."
This sounds good news for victims, but some would argue that
Obasanjo's decision might be another obstacle to peace processes
across Africa in the future as it influenced thinking of warlords
that they have to continue fighting to avoid being brought to book
for their crimes.
Taylor's spokesman Sylvester Paasewe predicted that African
warlords might no longer have faith in "an African solution."
Obasanjo himself did not want to be seen as having broken his
word and said he had consulted the African leaders involved in the
2003 deal after receiving a formal request from his Liberian
counterpart Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on March 5, who said the time was
opportune" to extradite Taylor.
?
"With no substantive objection other than timing and continued
peace in Liberia raised by those other heads of state involved in
the 2003 arrangement ... the government of Liberia is free to take
former president Charles Taylor into its custody," he said.
Nigeria's leading newspaper The Guardian had reported
on Friday that Taylor had begun preparations for his extradition
home as about 20 of his relations and aides had left Calabar for an
unknown destination. The report also quoted sources as saying that
Taylor had put in order all his cars in preparation for his
departure.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2006)
