'Arrest Taylor before he flees'

2006-03-26 17:28

Abuja - Nigeria must arrest exiled Liberian warlord Charles Taylor immediately, the international war tribunal in Sierra Leone said on Sunday, amid fears the former president might flee to avoid standing trial for crimes against humanity.

Nigeria said reluctantly on Saturday it was ready to hand over Taylor, sending a strong warning to other warmongers on the continent.

Liberia's information minister Johnny McClain said his government was working on Sunday with other countries to get Taylor sent directly to Sierra Leone.

"Modalities will be worked out to ensure he is transferred to Sierra Leone," he said.

Taylor, who could not be reached for comment, is accused of starting a 14-year civil war in his homeland that brutalised tens of thousands of young boys and girls, drafted as rebel fighters.

He also is blamed for a savage war in neighboring Sierra Leone where rebels - including child fighters - terrorised victims by chopping off arms, legs, ears and lips.

Facing 17 charges

An international tribunal indictment says Taylor is criminally responsible for the destruction of Liberia and Sierra Leone.

He also is blamed for the murder, rape, maiming and mutilation of more than a half-million Sierra Leoneans.

Each of the 17 charges he faces carries a sentence of life in prison.

Taylor also is accused of harboring al-Qaeda suicide bombers who attacked United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

"The watching world will wish to see Taylor held in Nigerian detention to avoid the possibility of him using his wealth and associates to slip away, with grave consequences to the stability of the region," said Sierra Leone war tribunal prosecutor Desmond de Silva in an "urgent statement" on Sunday.

'Pawn in a Gaddafi plot'

He said he had sent a message asking Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to arrest Taylor.

The former Liberian leader has been in exile in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar since being forced from power under a 2003 accord that ended a rebel assault on Liberia's capital.

The charge sheet also alleges Taylor was a pawn in a bigger plot drawn up by Moammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader indicted as a co-conspirator, to take over several African nations over 10 years.

- AP