Former Liberian president and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor was
on Wednesday evening finally transferred to the UN-backed special
court in Sierra Leoneto face trial, after his three-year exile in
Nigeria, sudden disappearance, dramatic arrest and a short stay at
his homeland.
"Today is a momentous occasion and an important day for
international justice, the international community and, above all,
the people of Sierra Leone," said the prosecutor of the special
court, Desmond de Silva, in a statement.
"His presence in the custody of the Special Court sends out the
clear message that no matter how rich, powerful or feared people
may be - the law is above them."
Taylor has been living in the southeastern Nigerian coastal city
of Calabar since August 2003 but disappeared on Monday night, about
48 hours after Nigeria, under the pressure of the US government,
announced that "Liberia is free to take former president Charles
Taylor into its custody."
Many suspect Taylor might have escaped by boat, but it's in
Gamboru Ngala, a Nigerian-Cameroonian border town, that he was
discovered by Nigerians immigration and custom officials.
"He (Taylor) was found (at about 06:00 GMT) on a Land Rover,
ashen color, jeep with a man (driver) and a woman. He was arrested
and sent to the state capital Maiduguri," Nigerian police spokesman
Haz Iwendi told Xinhua.
The official News Agency of Nigeria quoted Malam Mohammed Bello,
a controller of immigration in Borno, as saying that the woman was
his wife and Taylor was intercepted while driving the diplomatic
jeep with "Ambassador" on its plate number.
"A convoy was escorting the former warlord when they were
intercepted, but that the escort escaped arrest, leaving Taylor and
his wife," Bello added.
Witnesses told Xinhua that Taylor, accompanied by a dozens of
soldiers and clad in a white traditional flowing gown called
Agbada, boarded a Nigerian presidential jet which left for Monrovia
from Maiduguri airport at exactly 1:30 PM (12:30 GMT).
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who met US President
George W. Bush in Washington early in the day, said in a statement
that the capture of Charles Taylor had "vindicated" the position of
the Nigerian government.
"Those who said Nigeria may have helped Taylor escape are wrong
and should apologize. Mr. Taylor is neither a friend of the
President of Nigeria nor that of its people," he added.
Taylor had been seen as the main obstacle to peace in Liberia
and a destabilizing agent within the region, allegedly extending
his destabilizing drive to neighboring Sierra Leone, Guinea and
Cote d'Ivoire, claiming more than 200,000 lives.
But it is his support to the RUF rebel group against the Sierra
Leonean government in return for "bloody diamonds" that has cost
him his indictment on 17-count charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity.
The prosecutor, Silva, said a judge of the court had amended the
indictment against Taylor, under which he is charged with 11 counts
of war crimes and crimes against humanity to "ensure a more focused
trial."
Just before Taylor stepped on a plane to take him to Calabar in
August 2003, he told Liberians: "If God's willing, I will be back."
But his returned home may not have been what he may have expected
when he left for exile.
Upon his arrival back home on Wednesday evening, UN peacekeepers
picked him up in handcuff at the Monrovia's Roberts International
Airport from a Nigerian presidential aircraft and transferred to
Sierra Leone, where the court has a cell waiting for him.
Liberian government and UN officials were tight-lipped on the
transfer. Liberia's new leader, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was scheduled
to have addressed the nation Wednesday at 10:00 GMT, but her
address was rescheduled twice during the day and put back to 18:00
GMT. But by 17:00 GMT her address was called off with no reason
given.
Explaining reason for the twice rescheduling of
Johnson-Sirleaf's nationwide address, a presidential source who did
not want to be identified told Xinhua that "the president want to
have the Taylor's transfer issue settled and put behind her once
and for all."
"The president does not want to address the nation prior to
Taylor's transfer to avoid unforeseen embarrassment should the
unexpected happen surrounding Taylor," the source added.
The cancellation of the Johnson-Sirleaf address was viewed as a
decision to avoid infuriating individuals believed to Taylor's
loyalists.
Monrovia was relatively calm as many persons gathered around
transistor radios during the day to listen to news as Taylor's
arrest and transfer filtered in. Commuters also went about their
normal businesses.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2006)
