Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who disappeared yesterday from the Nigerian villa where he had been in exile since 2003, was apprehended today attempting to flee Nigeria into Cameroon. He has already been put on a plane to Liberia, where peacekeepers from the UN Mission In Liberia (UNMIL) are already prepared, pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 1638, to take him into custody and transfer him to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he has been indicted for arming and funding the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
After Taylor's near-"escape" from exile, it seems only prudent to refrain from celebrating another victory for international justice until the former dictator is firmly in the dock.
David Crane, former Chief Prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone spoke at The University of Western Ontario on Wednesday. Crane was especially ecstatic about the capture of Taylor, and assured students that Taylor will be processed immediately--and then taken, likely, to The Hague for "safe keeping" until a date closer to his trial. See Crane's remarks at http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/story.html?listing_id=21042
Posted by: Joanna Quinn at March 30, 2006 01:36 PMCelebrating? Ecstatic? Can you explain, please?
Taylor was persuaded to go into safe exile by the African Union including, prominently, our South African President Thabo Mbeki in person. This deal worked well to the extent that Liberia held an election, to which Johnson-Sirleaf owes her elevation to president.
The way that North Americans have barged in with a second guess on this situation is not pleasing to Africans.
From the point of view of transitional justice as such, would any supporter of the betrayal of Taylor like to explain what they think they are trying to do?
If Taylor is to be smashed, then who else will be hunted out? At what level of ex-combatant will you now draw the line? Does the witch-hunting continue for a fixed period, or can you re-open the list at any time? In that case, when are you planning for the next war to break out in Liberia?
I smell racism. I smell the desire in the white countries to parade a black freak show, as they used to do in the nineteenth century. It's not about peace, it's about reasserting whiteness.
Posted by: Dominic at April 8, 2006 01:42 PMIs it just me, or does Charles Taylor look exactly like Morgan Freeman?
Posted by: David at March 13, 2008 09:35 PM
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