'Taylor a menace to peace'

2003-10-17 18:23

Freetown, Sierra Leone - Charles Taylor at large remains a "clear and present danger" to peace in West Africa, the chief prosecutor of the war crimes court for Sierra Leone said on Friday - urging that the ousted Liberian leader be surrendered for trial.

Taylor, indicted by the UN-Sierra Leone war crimes court late last year, is two months into exile in Nigeria, his asylum since resigning Liberia's presidency on August 11 as rebels besieged Liberia's capital.

The UN-Sierra Leone war crimes court insists that Taylor be turned over for trial on the charges of backing Sierra Leone rebels in a vicious 10-year terror campaign here.

"Charles Taylor in Nigeria remains a clear and present danger to Sierra Leone and the region," the court's American chief prosecutor, David Crane, said in a statement.

Listing countries bloodied by insurrections linked to Taylor, Crane said, "He has ravaged Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea."

"The current peace in this region is built on sand, and could easily erode so long as this troublemaker and war criminal remains at large," the prosecutor said.

"Charles Taylor has promised to return to Liberia, and his past behaviour ensures that his return would be accompanied by violence throughout the region."

Taylor, a former warlord who launched Liberia into 14 years of conflict in 1989, resigned the presidency hours before he flew into exile. Liberia's rebels signed a peace deal a week later, and an interim leader, businessman Gyude Bryant, took power in a power-share government earlier this week.

Nigeria has shown no inclination to surrender Taylor for trial. Even US and UN officials, who were adamant that Taylor had to cede power in Liberia, have spoken of the Nigeria exile as the best available means of getting Taylor out.

"I am confident that at the end of the day Nigeria will hand over Charles Taylor to the special court," Crane told reporters on Friday.

- AP