Charles Taylor promised Liberians
he would return
Nigeria to give up Charles Taylor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4845088.stm
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Nigeria to give up Charles Taylor
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Charles Taylor promised Liberians
he would return
Nigeria to give up Charles Taylor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4845088.stm
Charles Taylor is facing 17 counts
of war crimes
Nigeria pressed to detain Taylor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4846452.stm
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<font size="5"><center>Ex-Liberian President Taylor Disappears</font size></center>
Mar 28, 7:35 AM (ET)
Associated Press
By MICHELLE FAUL
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Liberian warlord and former President Charles Taylor has disappeared from his haven in Nigeria, just as he was to have been handed over to stand trial on war crimes charges, Nigerian officials said Tuesday.
Taylor vanished Monday night from his villa in the southern town of Calabar, the government said. Last week, Nigeria's government agreed reluctantly to surrender him to stand before a U.N. tribunal on charges related to civil war in his homeland and its neighbor Sierra Leone.
A government statement said that President Olusegun Obasanjo was creating a panel to investigate Taylor's disappearance on Monday night. The statement raised the possibility he might have been abducted, but did not elaborate.
A presidential spokeswoman said members of Taylor's Nigerian security detail had been arrested.
The presidential statement offered no details on how Taylor's disappearance was discovered or whether he was being hunted.
Nigeria's Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday that dozens of people who had been living with Taylor in the villa in a walled government compound had left Monday and were flying to Lagos en route to an unknown destination.
Obasanjo offered Taylor refuge under an agreement that helped end Liberia's civil war in 2003.
Since then, though, the United States, the United Nations and others have called for Taylor to be handed over to an international war crimes tribunal.
Taylor is accused of starting civil wars in Liberia and its neighbor, Sierra Leone, that killed some 3 million people, and of harboring al-Qaida suicide bombers who attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 12 Americans and more than 200 Africans.
Obasanjo initially resisted calls to surrender Taylor. But Saturday, after Liberia's new President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked that Taylor be handed over for trial, Obasanjo agreed.
African leaders have been reluctant to see the continent's former presidents or dictators brought to justice, apparently fearful they would be the next to be accused of human rights abuses or other crimes.
Since agreeing Saturday to hand Taylor over, Obasanjo had been under pressure to ensure Taylor was sent to the U.N. tribunal sitting in Sierra Leone. Taylor had escaped from a U.S. penitentiary in Boston to launch Liberia's war.
On Monday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States has told Obasanjo that it was Nigeria's responsibility to "see that he is able to be conveyed and face justice."
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20060328/D8GKIRD00.html?PG=home&SEC=news
Mar 28, 7:35 AM (ET)
Associated Press
By MICHELLE FAUL
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Liberian warlord and former President Charles Taylor has disappeared from his haven in Nigeria, just as he was to have been handed over to stand trial on war crimes charges, Nigerian officials said Tuesday.
Taylor vanished Monday night from his villa in the southern town of Calabar, the government said. Last week, Nigeria's government agreed reluctantly to surrender him to stand before a U.N. tribunal on charges related to civil war in his homeland and its neighbor Sierra Leone.
A government statement said that President Olusegun Obasanjo was creating a panel to investigate Taylor's disappearance on Monday night. The statement raised the possibility he might have been abducted, but did not elaborate.
A presidential spokeswoman said members of Taylor's Nigerian security detail had been arrested.
The presidential statement offered no details on how Taylor's disappearance was discovered or whether he was being hunted.
Nigeria's Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday that dozens of people who had been living with Taylor in the villa in a walled government compound had left Monday and were flying to Lagos en route to an unknown destination.
Obasanjo offered Taylor refuge under an agreement that helped end Liberia's civil war in 2003.
Since then, though, the United States, the United Nations and others have called for Taylor to be handed over to an international war crimes tribunal.
Taylor is accused of starting civil wars in Liberia and its neighbor, Sierra Leone, that killed some 3 million people, and of harboring al-Qaida suicide bombers who attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 12 Americans and more than 200 Africans.
Obasanjo initially resisted calls to surrender Taylor. But Saturday, after Liberia's new President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked that Taylor be handed over for trial, Obasanjo agreed.
African leaders have been reluctant to see the continent's former presidents or dictators brought to justice, apparently fearful they would be the next to be accused of human rights abuses or other crimes.
Since agreeing Saturday to hand Taylor over, Obasanjo had been under pressure to ensure Taylor was sent to the U.N. tribunal sitting in Sierra Leone. Taylor had escaped from a U.S. penitentiary in Boston to launch Liberia's war.
On Monday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States has told Obasanjo that it was Nigeria's responsibility to "see that he is able to be conveyed and face justice."
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20060328/D8GKIRD00.html?PG=home&SEC=news
Posting the article; Yahoo links die young l
<font size="5"><center>Warlord Charles Taylor Arrested in Nigeria</font size></center>
By BASHIR ADIGUN, Associated Press Writer
40 minutes ago
ABUJA, Nigeria - Former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, who vanished in Nigeria after authorities reluctantly agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal, has been arrested trying to cross the border into Cameroon, Nigerian police said Wednesday.
Taylor, who went missing Monday night, was captured by security forces in the far northeastern border town of Gamboru, in Borno State, nearly 600 miles from the villa in southern Calabar where Taylor had lived in exile, Information Minister Frank Nweke said in a statement.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, on a visit to the United States, ordered Taylor's "immediate repatriation" to Liberia, the statement said.
Taylor disappeared just days after Nigeria, which had granted asylum to the fast-talking, U.S.-educated economist under a 2003 agreement that helped end Liberia's 14-year civil war, reluctantly bowed to pressure to surrender Taylor to face justice.
The admission that Taylor had slipped away came an hour before Obasanjo left Nigeria on a presidential jet headed for Washington, where he was scheduled to meet with President Bush on Wednesday.
Nigeria had announced it would hand Taylor over to a U.N.-backed Sierra Leone tribunal to be tried for alleged war crimes related to Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war, but the government had made no moves to arrest him before he disappeared.
Taylor, a one-time warlord and rebel leader, is charged with backing Sierra Leone rebels, including child fighters, who terrorized victims by chopping off body parts. He would be the first African leader to face trial for crimes against humanity.
While the Sierra Leone tribunal's charges refer only to the war there, Taylor also has been accused of starting civil war in Liberia and of harboring al-Qaida suicide bombers who attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing more than 200 people.
Obasanjo initially resisted calls to surrender Taylor. But Saturday, after Liberia's new President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked that Taylor be handed over for trial, Obasanjo agreed.
The U.N. Security Council had expressed surprise and concern at Taylor's disappearance and Secretary-General Kofi Annan had said he planned to talk to the Nigerian authorities about it. He urged all countries to refuse to give Taylor refuge.
The U.N. tribunal's prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, warned that Taylor was "a threat to the peace and security of West Africa."
Many of Taylor's loyalist soldiers are believed to be roaming freely in Liberia, Sierra Leone and civil-war divided Ivory Coast, from where Taylor launched his rebel incursion into Liberia on Dec. 24, 1989.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/nigeria_taylor
<font size="5"><center>Warlord Charles Taylor Arrested in Nigeria</font size></center>
By BASHIR ADIGUN, Associated Press Writer
40 minutes ago
ABUJA, Nigeria - Former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, who vanished in Nigeria after authorities reluctantly agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal, has been arrested trying to cross the border into Cameroon, Nigerian police said Wednesday.
Taylor, who went missing Monday night, was captured by security forces in the far northeastern border town of Gamboru, in Borno State, nearly 600 miles from the villa in southern Calabar where Taylor had lived in exile, Information Minister Frank Nweke said in a statement.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, on a visit to the United States, ordered Taylor's "immediate repatriation" to Liberia, the statement said.
Taylor disappeared just days after Nigeria, which had granted asylum to the fast-talking, U.S.-educated economist under a 2003 agreement that helped end Liberia's 14-year civil war, reluctantly bowed to pressure to surrender Taylor to face justice.
The admission that Taylor had slipped away came an hour before Obasanjo left Nigeria on a presidential jet headed for Washington, where he was scheduled to meet with President Bush on Wednesday.
Nigeria had announced it would hand Taylor over to a U.N.-backed Sierra Leone tribunal to be tried for alleged war crimes related to Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war, but the government had made no moves to arrest him before he disappeared.
Taylor, a one-time warlord and rebel leader, is charged with backing Sierra Leone rebels, including child fighters, who terrorized victims by chopping off body parts. He would be the first African leader to face trial for crimes against humanity.
While the Sierra Leone tribunal's charges refer only to the war there, Taylor also has been accused of starting civil war in Liberia and of harboring al-Qaida suicide bombers who attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing more than 200 people.
Obasanjo initially resisted calls to surrender Taylor. But Saturday, after Liberia's new President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked that Taylor be handed over for trial, Obasanjo agreed.
The U.N. Security Council had expressed surprise and concern at Taylor's disappearance and Secretary-General Kofi Annan had said he planned to talk to the Nigerian authorities about it. He urged all countries to refuse to give Taylor refuge.
The U.N. tribunal's prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, warned that Taylor was "a threat to the peace and security of West Africa."
Many of Taylor's loyalist soldiers are believed to be roaming freely in Liberia, Sierra Leone and civil-war divided Ivory Coast, from where Taylor launched his rebel incursion into Liberia on Dec. 24, 1989.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/nigeria_taylor
Charles Taylor's Son Arrested in Miami
Charles Taylor's Son Arrested in Miami
By LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL, Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, has been arrested by U.S. authorities in Miami, days after his father was handed over to a war crimes tribunal.
Emmanuel, a U.S. citizen, led Liberian forces who were responsible for Taylor's security until he went into exile in 2003, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Miami.
Emmanuel, 29, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., was on a United Nations list of Liberians whose travel was restricted.
He was taken into custody Thursday night at Miami International Airport, when his flight from Trinidad had just landed, authorities said.
Emmanuel appeared in federal court Friday on a charge of passport fraud, said Barbara Gonzalez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.
It was not immediately clear where Emmanuel was being held. Federal Detention Center officials in Miami could not confirm that he was in their custody.
Taylor, the former warlord, is being held at the U.N.-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone court that has charged him with war crimes. He was arrested in Nigeria on Tuesday.
Emmanuel was born in Boston in 1977, the affidavit said. Emmanuel served his father in Liberia for the duration of Taylor's rule from 1977 until August 2003, the affidavit said, citing an interview with Emmanuel's mother.
Emmanuel traveled to the Caribbean island of Trinidad when he quit Liberia at the end of July 2003, passing through Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia, the affidavit said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents learned that he applied two weeks ago to renew his U.S. passport at the U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain, Trinidad's capital. He lied about his father's identity on the application, the affidavit said.
Emmanuel picked up the passport in recent days and, on Thursday, boarded an American Airlines flight bound for Miami.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060401...61I2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
Charles Taylor's Son Arrested in Miami
By LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL, Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, has been arrested by U.S. authorities in Miami, days after his father was handed over to a war crimes tribunal.
Emmanuel, a U.S. citizen, led Liberian forces who were responsible for Taylor's security until he went into exile in 2003, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Miami.
Emmanuel, 29, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., was on a United Nations list of Liberians whose travel was restricted.
He was taken into custody Thursday night at Miami International Airport, when his flight from Trinidad had just landed, authorities said.
Emmanuel appeared in federal court Friday on a charge of passport fraud, said Barbara Gonzalez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.
It was not immediately clear where Emmanuel was being held. Federal Detention Center officials in Miami could not confirm that he was in their custody.
Taylor, the former warlord, is being held at the U.N.-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone court that has charged him with war crimes. He was arrested in Nigeria on Tuesday.
Emmanuel was born in Boston in 1977, the affidavit said. Emmanuel served his father in Liberia for the duration of Taylor's rule from 1977 until August 2003, the affidavit said, citing an interview with Emmanuel's mother.
Emmanuel traveled to the Caribbean island of Trinidad when he quit Liberia at the end of July 2003, passing through Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia, the affidavit said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents learned that he applied two weeks ago to renew his U.S. passport at the U.S. Embassy in Port of Spain, Trinidad's capital. He lied about his father's identity on the application, the affidavit said.
Emmanuel picked up the passport in recent days and, on Thursday, boarded an American Airlines flight bound for Miami.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060401...61I2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
Re: Charles Taylor's Son Arrested in Miami
<font size="5">L<center>Taylor is not war criminal,</font size>
<font size="6"> needs cash, lawyer says</font size></center>
01 Apr 2006 19:44:12 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Alphonso Toweh MONROVIA, April 1 (Reuters) - Former Liberian president Charles Taylor will plead not guilty to war crimes charges this week but the ex-warlord needs donations from "goodwilled people" to pay for his defence, his lawyer said on Saturday.
Taylor, whose name became synonymous with a decade of brutal conflict in West Africa, is behind bars at a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone facing 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during that country's 1991-2002 civil war.
The charismatic 58-year-old Taylor is widely believed to have amassed a multi-million dollar fortune by exerting a tight control over Liberia's gold, iron ore and rubber. His rambling Monrovia mansion remains boarded up.
Africa's most notorious war-crimes suspect is due to make his first court appearance on Monday, when he will be asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
The court in Freetown has asked the Netherlands to host his trial in The Hague, citing fears that keeping him in Sierra Leone could provoke unrest there and in neighbouring Liberia.
"Mr Taylor will not plead guilty because the facts are there," Richard Flomo, one of the lawyers representing him, said. "Even if they take the case to The Hague and they are transparent, Mr Taylor will be acquitted."
Taylor is accused by the special court of smuggling arms to Sierra Leone's RUF rebels -- notorious for hacking the limbs off women and children -- in return for "blood diamonds".
He was arrested last week in Nigeria after slipping away from a luxury villa where he was in exile. He was captured in a four-by-four vehicle with a trunk full of dollars heading for the Cameroon border.
"Mr Taylor is broke. He does not have money to plead a case," Flomo told Reuters. "We hope goodwilled people and other institutions will come and help so that we can plead his case."
"Right now there is no money," he added.
Taylor rose to power with a 1989 rebellion in Liberia to overthrow ex-president Samuel Doe. The uprising turned into a 14-year on-off civil war in which 250,000 people were killed before Taylor -- elected president in 1997 -- left for exile in 2003.
Flomo said he was awaiting clearance from the United Nations to travel to Freetown to join his client. "Our security has to be guaranteed because the environment is hostile," the lawyer said.
Known simply as "Pappy" to a generation of drug-crazed, Kalashnikov-wielding child soldiers, Taylor is deeply religious man, who led prayer meetings dressed all in white. Prostrating himself for divine help, he once declared: "I am not the president, Jesus is the president."
Meanwhile, a son of the former Liberian president has been charged with passport fraud and is in U.S. custody, a spokeswoman for the U.S. immigration service said.
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., was arrested at Miami International Airport on Thursday night after flying in from Trinidad, and was accused of lying about his father's identity in a U.S. passport application.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0128811.htm
<font size="5">L<center>Taylor is not war criminal,</font size>
<font size="6"> needs cash, lawyer says</font size></center>
01 Apr 2006 19:44:12 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Alphonso Toweh MONROVIA, April 1 (Reuters) - Former Liberian president Charles Taylor will plead not guilty to war crimes charges this week but the ex-warlord needs donations from "goodwilled people" to pay for his defence, his lawyer said on Saturday.
Taylor, whose name became synonymous with a decade of brutal conflict in West Africa, is behind bars at a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone facing 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during that country's 1991-2002 civil war.
The charismatic 58-year-old Taylor is widely believed to have amassed a multi-million dollar fortune by exerting a tight control over Liberia's gold, iron ore and rubber. His rambling Monrovia mansion remains boarded up.
Africa's most notorious war-crimes suspect is due to make his first court appearance on Monday, when he will be asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
The court in Freetown has asked the Netherlands to host his trial in The Hague, citing fears that keeping him in Sierra Leone could provoke unrest there and in neighbouring Liberia.
"Mr Taylor will not plead guilty because the facts are there," Richard Flomo, one of the lawyers representing him, said. "Even if they take the case to The Hague and they are transparent, Mr Taylor will be acquitted."
Taylor is accused by the special court of smuggling arms to Sierra Leone's RUF rebels -- notorious for hacking the limbs off women and children -- in return for "blood diamonds".
He was arrested last week in Nigeria after slipping away from a luxury villa where he was in exile. He was captured in a four-by-four vehicle with a trunk full of dollars heading for the Cameroon border.
"Mr Taylor is broke. He does not have money to plead a case," Flomo told Reuters. "We hope goodwilled people and other institutions will come and help so that we can plead his case."
"Right now there is no money," he added.
Taylor rose to power with a 1989 rebellion in Liberia to overthrow ex-president Samuel Doe. The uprising turned into a 14-year on-off civil war in which 250,000 people were killed before Taylor -- elected president in 1997 -- left for exile in 2003.
Flomo said he was awaiting clearance from the United Nations to travel to Freetown to join his client. "Our security has to be guaranteed because the environment is hostile," the lawyer said.
Known simply as "Pappy" to a generation of drug-crazed, Kalashnikov-wielding child soldiers, Taylor is deeply religious man, who led prayer meetings dressed all in white. Prostrating himself for divine help, he once declared: "I am not the president, Jesus is the president."
Meanwhile, a son of the former Liberian president has been charged with passport fraud and is in U.S. custody, a spokeswoman for the U.S. immigration service said.
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., was arrested at Miami International Airport on Thursday night after flying in from Trinidad, and was accused of lying about his father's identity in a U.S. passport application.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0128811.htm
Re: Charles Taylor's Son Arrested in Miami
<font size="5"><center>Liberia's former leader pleads
not guilty to war crimes</font size><font size="4">
Distances himself from horrors in Sierra Leone</font size></center>
Boston Globe
By Michelle Faul, Associated Press | April 4, 2006
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- The man who was once Africa's most feared warlord listened impassively to a litany of horrors couched in dispassionate legal language -- cutting off of limbs and other body parts; rape, abduction, and sexual slavery; pillaging; conscription of boys and girls.
Then Charles Taylor, whose war to rule Liberia dragged in nations across West Africa, firmly told a war tribunal: ''I did not and could not have committed these acts."
The judge accepted that as a not-guilty plea, and with that the first African president to be brought before such a court had been arraigned. As the hour-long hearing ended, Taylor, who is known for his flamboyance, stood and smiled and blew kisses to relatives.
Taylor's court appearance forced him ''to face the people of Sierra Leone, against whom he is accused of committing heinous atrocities," the court's chief prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, said in a statement yesterday.
The appearance came three years after Taylor was indicted and a week after he tried to escape being handed over to the court where he had been indicted for supporting Sierra Leonean rebels.
De Silva added a precedent had been set: ''Those who commit atrocities and violate international humanitarian law will be held accountable, no matter how rich, powerful, or feared people may be -- no one is above the law."
At the arraignment, Taylor's defense lawyer asked that the case remain in Sierra Leone at the international court established to try those responsible for atrocities during the country's 1991-2002 civil war.
Court officials have asked that the trial be moved to an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, because of fears the 58-year-old Taylor could still destabilize West Africa.
Taylor said through his lawyer that he feared for his safety in Sierra Leone but wanted to be tried in the region, in part because it would be easier for defense witnesses to testify. The court's chief prosecutor has said Taylor has no reason to fear for his safety.
After accepting Taylor's plea, Justice Richard Lussick instructed aides to set a date for the trial to begin. No date was immediately set.
De Silva has said the defense could be given months to prepare. He pointed out that prosecutors took two years to compile their evidence, which defense lawyers will review.
Taylor showed little emotion during the hearing, though at one point he shook his head as the indictment was read.
Security was tight. Taylor -- and court officials who have received death threats -- were protected by bulletproof glass and by dozens of UN peacekeepers from Mongolia and Ireland.
A Liberian lawyer had said the defense strategy would be to argue that the Sierra Leone court has no jurisdiction over Liberia or its head of state and so no right to try Taylor, who was president when he was indicted in 2003.
The court's appeals chamber had rejected a similar argument made soon after the indictment was filed.
Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has expressed fear that Taylor's supporters could use a trial in the region as an excuse to mount another insurgency, one that could, like Liberia's last war, spill across the region.
Taylor, who has proclaimed he is innocent of charges against him, won a disputed election in Liberia in 1997. Many former allies in an insurgency he had launched in 1989 took up arms against him in 2000 and attacked Monrovia in 2003.
President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria helped broker peace in Liberia by offering Taylor exile in Nigeria. The former president traveled to Nigeria in August 2003, five months after his Special Court indictment, as part of a deal to end fighting in Liberia.
Nigeria, under pressure from the United States and others, said last week it would hand over Taylor but made no move to arrest him. Taylor fled and was captured within a day by Nigerian police who found him trying to cross the Nigerian-Cameroonian border.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/af...ormer_leader_pleads_not_guilty_to_war_crimes/
<font size="5"><center>Liberia's former leader pleads
not guilty to war crimes</font size><font size="4">
Distances himself from horrors in Sierra Leone</font size></center>
Boston Globe
By Michelle Faul, Associated Press | April 4, 2006
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- The man who was once Africa's most feared warlord listened impassively to a litany of horrors couched in dispassionate legal language -- cutting off of limbs and other body parts; rape, abduction, and sexual slavery; pillaging; conscription of boys and girls.
Then Charles Taylor, whose war to rule Liberia dragged in nations across West Africa, firmly told a war tribunal: ''I did not and could not have committed these acts."
The judge accepted that as a not-guilty plea, and with that the first African president to be brought before such a court had been arraigned. As the hour-long hearing ended, Taylor, who is known for his flamboyance, stood and smiled and blew kisses to relatives.
Taylor's court appearance forced him ''to face the people of Sierra Leone, against whom he is accused of committing heinous atrocities," the court's chief prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, said in a statement yesterday.
The appearance came three years after Taylor was indicted and a week after he tried to escape being handed over to the court where he had been indicted for supporting Sierra Leonean rebels.
De Silva added a precedent had been set: ''Those who commit atrocities and violate international humanitarian law will be held accountable, no matter how rich, powerful, or feared people may be -- no one is above the law."
At the arraignment, Taylor's defense lawyer asked that the case remain in Sierra Leone at the international court established to try those responsible for atrocities during the country's 1991-2002 civil war.
Court officials have asked that the trial be moved to an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, because of fears the 58-year-old Taylor could still destabilize West Africa.
Taylor said through his lawyer that he feared for his safety in Sierra Leone but wanted to be tried in the region, in part because it would be easier for defense witnesses to testify. The court's chief prosecutor has said Taylor has no reason to fear for his safety.
After accepting Taylor's plea, Justice Richard Lussick instructed aides to set a date for the trial to begin. No date was immediately set.
De Silva has said the defense could be given months to prepare. He pointed out that prosecutors took two years to compile their evidence, which defense lawyers will review.
Taylor showed little emotion during the hearing, though at one point he shook his head as the indictment was read.
Security was tight. Taylor -- and court officials who have received death threats -- were protected by bulletproof glass and by dozens of UN peacekeepers from Mongolia and Ireland.
A Liberian lawyer had said the defense strategy would be to argue that the Sierra Leone court has no jurisdiction over Liberia or its head of state and so no right to try Taylor, who was president when he was indicted in 2003.
The court's appeals chamber had rejected a similar argument made soon after the indictment was filed.
Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has expressed fear that Taylor's supporters could use a trial in the region as an excuse to mount another insurgency, one that could, like Liberia's last war, spill across the region.
Taylor, who has proclaimed he is innocent of charges against him, won a disputed election in Liberia in 1997. Many former allies in an insurgency he had launched in 1989 took up arms against him in 2000 and attacked Monrovia in 2003.
President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria helped broker peace in Liberia by offering Taylor exile in Nigeria. The former president traveled to Nigeria in August 2003, five months after his Special Court indictment, as part of a deal to end fighting in Liberia.
Nigeria, under pressure from the United States and others, said last week it would hand over Taylor but made no move to arrest him. Taylor fled and was captured within a day by Nigerian police who found him trying to cross the Nigerian-Cameroonian border.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/af...ormer_leader_pleads_not_guilty_to_war_crimes/
EXPOSED: Liberian WAR CRIMINAL Charles Taylor worked for the CIA!!...(US smdh)
Charles Taylor 'Worked' for CIA in Liberia
By BBC
January 19, 2012 "BBC" -- US authorities say former Liberian leader Charles Taylor worked for its intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the Boston Globe reports.
The revelation comes in response to a Freedom of Information request by the newspaper.
A Globe reporter told the BBC this is the first official confirmation of long-held reports of a relationship between US intelligence and Mr Taylor.
Mr Taylor is awaiting a verdict on his trial for alleged war crimes.
Rumours of CIA ties were fuelled in July 2009 when Mr Taylor himself told his trial, at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague, that US agents had helped him escape from a maximum security prison in Boston in 1985.
The CIA at the time denied such claims as "completely absurd".
But now the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's spy arm, has disclosed that its agents - and those of the CIA - did later use Mr Taylor as an informant, the Globe reports.
Globe reporter Bryan Bender told the BBC's Network Africa programme that Pentagon officials refused to give details on exactly what role Mr Taylor played, citing national security.
But they did confirm that Mr Taylor first started working with US intelligence in the 1980s, the period when he rose to become one of the world's most notorious warlords, Mr Bender says.
Mr Taylor was later elected Liberia's president.
He has been accused of arming and controlling the RUF rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during a 10-year campaign of terror conducted largely against civilians.
If convicted, Mr Taylor would serve a prison sentence in the UK.
He denies charges of murder, rape and using child soldiers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16627628
Former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor had US spy agency ties
By Bryan Bender
January 19, 2012 - "Boston Globe" -- January 17, 2012 - WASHINGTON - When Charles G. Taylor tied bed sheets together to escape from a second-floor window at the Plymouth House of Correction on Sept. 15, 1985, he was more than a fugitive trying to avoid extradition. He was a sought-after source for American intelligence.
After a quarter-century of silence, the US government has confirmed what has long been rumored: Taylor, who would become president of Liberia and the first African leader tried for war crimes, worked with US spy agencies during his rise as one of the world’s most notorious dictators.
The disclosure on the former president comes in response to a request filed by the Globe six years ago under the Freedom of Information Act. The Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s spy arm, confirmed its agents and CIA agents worked with Taylor beginning in the early 1980s.
“They may have stuck with him longer than they should have but maybe he was providing something useful,’’ said Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington and an authority on Taylor’s reign and the guns-for-diamonds trade that was a base of his power.
The Defense Intelligence Agency refused to reveal any details about the relationship, saying doing so would harm national security.
Taylor, 63, pleaded innocent in 2009 to multiple counts of murder, rape, attacking civilians, and deploying child soldiers during a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone while he was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003. After a proceeding that lasted several years, the three-judge panel of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone is now reviewing tens of thousands of pages of evidence, including the testimony of about 100 victims, former rebels, and Taylor himself, whose testimony lasted seven months.
“We hope the verdict will come in the first quarter of this year,’’ said Solomon Moriba, a spokesman for the court in The Hague.
Moriba said any relationship Taylor had with American intelligence was not related to his case before the court, but those who investigated the atrocities said it might explain why some US officials seemed reluctant to use their influence to bring Taylor to justice sooner.
After Taylor stepped down as Liberian president in 2003 following his indictment, he lived virtually in the open for three years in exile in Nigeria, a US ally. The Bush administration came under intense criticism from members of Congress for not intervening with the Nigerian government until Taylor was finally handed over to the court in 2006.
Allan White, a former Defense Department investigator who helped build the case against Taylor on behalf of the United Nations, said the news reinforced suspicions he had for years.
“I think the intelligence community’s past relationship with Taylor made some in the US government squeamish about a trial, despite knowing what a bad actor he was,’’ White said in an interview.
Taylor’s lawyer in the war crimes trial, Courtenay Griffiths, did not respond to several calls or e-mails seeking comment.
The Pentagon’s response to the Globe states that the details of Taylor’s role on behalf of the spy agencies are contained in dozens of secret reports - at least 48 separate documents - covering several decades. However, the exact duration and scope of the relationship remains hidden. The Defense Intelligence Agency said the details are exempt from public disclosure because of the need to protect “sources and methods,’’ safeguard the inner workings of American spycraft, and shield the identities of government personnel.
Former intelligence officials, who agreed to discuss the covert ties only on the condition of anonymity, and specialists including Farah believe Taylor probably was considered useful for gathering intelligence about the activities of Moammar Khadafy. During the 1980s, the ruler of Libya was blamed for sponsoring such terrorist acts as the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland and for fomenting guerrilla wars across Africa.
Taylor testified that after fleeing Boston he recruited 168 men and women for the National Patriotic Front for Liberia and trained them in Libya.
Over time, the former officials said, Taylor may have also been seen as a source for information on broader issues in Africa, from the illegal arms trade to the activities of the Soviet Union, which, like the United States, was seeking allies on the continent as part of the broader struggle of the Cold War.
Liberia, too, was of special interest to Washington. The country was founded in 1847 by freed American slaves who named its capital, Monrovia, after President James Monroe. The American embassy was among the largest in the world, covering two full city blocks, and US companies had significant investments in the country, including a Firestone tire factory and a Coca-Cola bottling plant.
A former ally of Taylor’s, Prince Johnson, told a government commission in Liberia in 2008 that he believed US intelligence had encouraged Taylor to overthrow the government in Liberia, which had fallen out of favor with Washington for banning all political opposition.
Taylor’s ties to Boston reach back four decades.
He arrived in 1972 and attended Chamberlayne Junior College in Newton and studied economics at Bentley College in Waltham. While in Boston, he emerged as a political force as national chairman of the Union of Liberian Associations. In 1977 he returned to Liberia and joined Samuel Doe’s government after a coup in 1980.
Taylor served as chief of government procurement in the Doe regime but fled Liberia for Boston in 1983 after being accused of embezzling $1 million from the government. He was arrested in Somerville in 1984 and jailed in Plymouth pending extradition.
The acknowledgment now that Taylor worked with US intelligence agencies at the time raises new questions about whether elements within the government orchestrated the Plymouth prison break in 1985 - as Taylor claimed during his trial - or at least helped him flee the United States.
Four other inmates who also escaped that night were soon recaptured.
“Why would someone walk out of a prison that’s never been breached in a 100 years?’’ said David M. Crane, who was the chief prosecutor for the Sierra Leone war crimes court from 2002 to 2005 and now teaches at Syracuse University College of Law. “It begs the question: How do you walk out of a prison? It seems someone looked the other way.’’
Taylor recounted the episode during his trial testimony, insisting that a guard opened his cell for him.
“I am calling it my release because I didn’t break out,’’ Taylor testified. “I did not pay any money. I did not know the guys who picked me up. I was not hiding [afterwards].’’
He said two men - he assumed they were American agents - were waiting for him outside the prison and drove him to New York to meet his wife. Using his own passport, he said, he traveled to Mexico before returning to Africa.
Brian Gillen, the superintendent of the maximum security jail in Plymouth who was director of security at the time of Taylor’s escape, declined to comment when reached last week by the Globe.
Taylor reemerged in Liberia in 1989 as head of a rebel army.
“I assigned an officer to maintain a watch on the Taylor people,’’ recalled James Keough Bishop, US ambassador in Liberia from 1981 to 1989.
Bishop said he was not aware of ties between American intelligence and Taylor.
After a series of bloody civil wars that lasted much of the 1990s, Taylor eventually assumed power. He was elected president in 1997.
Several former officials and specialists believe US intelligence had probably cut ties with Taylor by the time he became president, but Farah said he believes that even in the early years of their associations with Taylor, US intelligence agencies knew what kind of character he was.
“Even at the time, there were atrocities going on,’’ he said. “He wasn’t clean when they hooked up with him. We had a high tolerance for people who were willing to inform on Khadafy. The question is whether he actually provided anything useful.’’
© 2012 NY Times Co
http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-...urtenay-griffiths-charles-taylor-war-crimes/3
Charles Taylor 'Worked' for CIA in Liberia
By BBC
January 19, 2012 "BBC" -- US authorities say former Liberian leader Charles Taylor worked for its intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the Boston Globe reports.
The revelation comes in response to a Freedom of Information request by the newspaper.
A Globe reporter told the BBC this is the first official confirmation of long-held reports of a relationship between US intelligence and Mr Taylor.
Mr Taylor is awaiting a verdict on his trial for alleged war crimes.
Rumours of CIA ties were fuelled in July 2009 when Mr Taylor himself told his trial, at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague, that US agents had helped him escape from a maximum security prison in Boston in 1985.
The CIA at the time denied such claims as "completely absurd".
But now the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's spy arm, has disclosed that its agents - and those of the CIA - did later use Mr Taylor as an informant, the Globe reports.
Globe reporter Bryan Bender told the BBC's Network Africa programme that Pentagon officials refused to give details on exactly what role Mr Taylor played, citing national security.
But they did confirm that Mr Taylor first started working with US intelligence in the 1980s, the period when he rose to become one of the world's most notorious warlords, Mr Bender says.
Mr Taylor was later elected Liberia's president.
He has been accused of arming and controlling the RUF rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during a 10-year campaign of terror conducted largely against civilians.
If convicted, Mr Taylor would serve a prison sentence in the UK.
He denies charges of murder, rape and using child soldiers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16627628
Former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor had US spy agency ties
By Bryan Bender
January 19, 2012 - "Boston Globe" -- January 17, 2012 - WASHINGTON - When Charles G. Taylor tied bed sheets together to escape from a second-floor window at the Plymouth House of Correction on Sept. 15, 1985, he was more than a fugitive trying to avoid extradition. He was a sought-after source for American intelligence.
After a quarter-century of silence, the US government has confirmed what has long been rumored: Taylor, who would become president of Liberia and the first African leader tried for war crimes, worked with US spy agencies during his rise as one of the world’s most notorious dictators.
The disclosure on the former president comes in response to a request filed by the Globe six years ago under the Freedom of Information Act. The Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s spy arm, confirmed its agents and CIA agents worked with Taylor beginning in the early 1980s.
“They may have stuck with him longer than they should have but maybe he was providing something useful,’’ said Douglas Farah, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center in Washington and an authority on Taylor’s reign and the guns-for-diamonds trade that was a base of his power.
The Defense Intelligence Agency refused to reveal any details about the relationship, saying doing so would harm national security.
Taylor, 63, pleaded innocent in 2009 to multiple counts of murder, rape, attacking civilians, and deploying child soldiers during a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone while he was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003. After a proceeding that lasted several years, the three-judge panel of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone is now reviewing tens of thousands of pages of evidence, including the testimony of about 100 victims, former rebels, and Taylor himself, whose testimony lasted seven months.
“We hope the verdict will come in the first quarter of this year,’’ said Solomon Moriba, a spokesman for the court in The Hague.
Moriba said any relationship Taylor had with American intelligence was not related to his case before the court, but those who investigated the atrocities said it might explain why some US officials seemed reluctant to use their influence to bring Taylor to justice sooner.
After Taylor stepped down as Liberian president in 2003 following his indictment, he lived virtually in the open for three years in exile in Nigeria, a US ally. The Bush administration came under intense criticism from members of Congress for not intervening with the Nigerian government until Taylor was finally handed over to the court in 2006.
Allan White, a former Defense Department investigator who helped build the case against Taylor on behalf of the United Nations, said the news reinforced suspicions he had for years.
“I think the intelligence community’s past relationship with Taylor made some in the US government squeamish about a trial, despite knowing what a bad actor he was,’’ White said in an interview.
Taylor’s lawyer in the war crimes trial, Courtenay Griffiths, did not respond to several calls or e-mails seeking comment.
The Pentagon’s response to the Globe states that the details of Taylor’s role on behalf of the spy agencies are contained in dozens of secret reports - at least 48 separate documents - covering several decades. However, the exact duration and scope of the relationship remains hidden. The Defense Intelligence Agency said the details are exempt from public disclosure because of the need to protect “sources and methods,’’ safeguard the inner workings of American spycraft, and shield the identities of government personnel.
Former intelligence officials, who agreed to discuss the covert ties only on the condition of anonymity, and specialists including Farah believe Taylor probably was considered useful for gathering intelligence about the activities of Moammar Khadafy. During the 1980s, the ruler of Libya was blamed for sponsoring such terrorist acts as the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland and for fomenting guerrilla wars across Africa.
Taylor testified that after fleeing Boston he recruited 168 men and women for the National Patriotic Front for Liberia and trained them in Libya.
Over time, the former officials said, Taylor may have also been seen as a source for information on broader issues in Africa, from the illegal arms trade to the activities of the Soviet Union, which, like the United States, was seeking allies on the continent as part of the broader struggle of the Cold War.
Liberia, too, was of special interest to Washington. The country was founded in 1847 by freed American slaves who named its capital, Monrovia, after President James Monroe. The American embassy was among the largest in the world, covering two full city blocks, and US companies had significant investments in the country, including a Firestone tire factory and a Coca-Cola bottling plant.
A former ally of Taylor’s, Prince Johnson, told a government commission in Liberia in 2008 that he believed US intelligence had encouraged Taylor to overthrow the government in Liberia, which had fallen out of favor with Washington for banning all political opposition.
Taylor’s ties to Boston reach back four decades.
He arrived in 1972 and attended Chamberlayne Junior College in Newton and studied economics at Bentley College in Waltham. While in Boston, he emerged as a political force as national chairman of the Union of Liberian Associations. In 1977 he returned to Liberia and joined Samuel Doe’s government after a coup in 1980.
Taylor served as chief of government procurement in the Doe regime but fled Liberia for Boston in 1983 after being accused of embezzling $1 million from the government. He was arrested in Somerville in 1984 and jailed in Plymouth pending extradition.
The acknowledgment now that Taylor worked with US intelligence agencies at the time raises new questions about whether elements within the government orchestrated the Plymouth prison break in 1985 - as Taylor claimed during his trial - or at least helped him flee the United States.
Four other inmates who also escaped that night were soon recaptured.
“Why would someone walk out of a prison that’s never been breached in a 100 years?’’ said David M. Crane, who was the chief prosecutor for the Sierra Leone war crimes court from 2002 to 2005 and now teaches at Syracuse University College of Law. “It begs the question: How do you walk out of a prison? It seems someone looked the other way.’’
Taylor recounted the episode during his trial testimony, insisting that a guard opened his cell for him.
“I am calling it my release because I didn’t break out,’’ Taylor testified. “I did not pay any money. I did not know the guys who picked me up. I was not hiding [afterwards].’’
He said two men - he assumed they were American agents - were waiting for him outside the prison and drove him to New York to meet his wife. Using his own passport, he said, he traveled to Mexico before returning to Africa.
Brian Gillen, the superintendent of the maximum security jail in Plymouth who was director of security at the time of Taylor’s escape, declined to comment when reached last week by the Globe.
Taylor reemerged in Liberia in 1989 as head of a rebel army.
“I assigned an officer to maintain a watch on the Taylor people,’’ recalled James Keough Bishop, US ambassador in Liberia from 1981 to 1989.
Bishop said he was not aware of ties between American intelligence and Taylor.
After a series of bloody civil wars that lasted much of the 1990s, Taylor eventually assumed power. He was elected president in 1997.
Several former officials and specialists believe US intelligence had probably cut ties with Taylor by the time he became president, but Farah said he believes that even in the early years of their associations with Taylor, US intelligence agencies knew what kind of character he was.
“Even at the time, there were atrocities going on,’’ he said. “He wasn’t clean when they hooked up with him. We had a high tolerance for people who were willing to inform on Khadafy. The question is whether he actually provided anything useful.’’
© 2012 NY Times Co
http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-...urtenay-griffiths-charles-taylor-war-crimes/3