Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, wanted for war crimes by
a UN-backed court, has "disappeared" from his residence in Nigeria
which terminated his asylum three days ago, the Nigerian government
said on Tuesday.
"President Olusegun Obasanjo has approved the constitution of a
panel of inquiry to look into the circumstances of the
disappearance on Monday night ... to ascertain whether he escaped
or was abducted," it said in a statement.
The five-man panel, including a retired police chief and a
representative of the United Nations Development Program in
Nigeria, will also identify "those responsible for his
disappearance ... (and) recommend appropriate sanctions against
those found culpable," it said.
The statement issued by secretary to the government of the
federation Ufot Ekaett added the panel will have two weeks from
Thursday, the date of its inauguration, to submit its investigating
report to Justice Minister Bayo Ojo.
Nigerian presidential spokeswoman Oluremi Oyo said that those
guarding Taylor in the southeastern Nigerian city of Calabar have
been arrested. Nigerian police put the number of the arrested at
22.
The prosecutor of the special court in Sierra Leone, Desmond de
Silva, slammed Taylor's disappearance as "an affront to justice"
and urged west African leaders to take all necessary steps to
locate him.
"Today marks a step back on the road to accountability and
justice. Charles Taylor is now an international fugitive," Silva
said in a statement.
"As I have always stated, Charles Taylor is a threat to the
peace and security of west Africa. His disappearance now from under
the eye of a regional superpower only heightens that threat and
puts the whole region on the highest alert," he added.
The sudden disappearance of Taylor came on the eve of Obasanjo's
visit to Washington, where he is due to meet President George
W.Bush on Wednesday, who has been pressing for the handover of the
58-year-old ex-warlord.
Amnesty International in a statement called for an independent
and impartial international commission of inquiry to be jointly
established by the UN and the African Union to determine the
circumstances of Taylor's reported escape, and establish
responsibility for the lapse in security.
?
"Allowing Charles Taylor to escape trial would be a human rights
scandal and a slap in the face for the thousands of victims of
crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murders,
amputations, rapes, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers
that took place during the conflict in Sierra Leone," said Kolawole
Olaniyan, director of Amnesty International's Africa Program.
Taylor's exile to Nigeria was part of the August 2003 peace deal
which ended 14 years of civil war in the west African country and
put in place a two-year transitional government until 2005.
But by then, Taylor had been indicted on 17 counts by the
special court in Sierra Leone, for crimes against humanity and war
crimes for fueling the civil war there, when he allegedly supported
rebels against the Sierra Leonean government in return for "bloody
diamonds."
Nigeria, which initially vowed to protect Taylor with all its
might, chose to agree to hand him over to a democratically-elected
government of Liberia in late 2004, under the pressure of the US
government.
At the weekend, Obasanjo told Liberia's new leader Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf that "Liberia is free to take former president
Charles Taylor into its custody," but Johnson-Sirleaf wants her
predecessor sent directly to the special court.
Meanwhile, Obasanjo dismissed a request from the court to arrest
Taylor to prevent his escape. His spokeswoman Oyo said that Taylor
"is not a prisoner" and free to leave.
The official News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday quoted one of
Taylor's daughters, Desirer, as saying that she was with her father
"this morning." One of his male relations, however, confirmed that
Taylor had gone into hiding, the report said. It also quoted
residents of Calabar that they sighted him at a supermarket in the
city on Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)
