Taylor tells of deceit that led to arrest

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Tuesday

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Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has said he was duped by Nigeria into being arrested and facing international justice.
Mr Taylor was speaking at his trial on war crimes charges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague.

He is accused of backing rebels in Liberia’s neighbour Sierra Leone, who committed widespread atrocities throughout the 1990s. He had left power and was in exile in Nigeria in 2006 when he was arrested.

Mr Taylor now says the president of Nigeria at the time, Olusegun Obasanjo — who is currently a United Nations peace envoy — told him lies that caused him to be arrested.

Mr Taylor was living in exile in Nigeria in 2006 when US pressure to put him on trial for alleged war crimes increased.

Then, Mr Taylor suddenly disappeared while Mr Obasanjo was on his way to Washington to meet his US counterpart, George W Bush.

Then, equally suddenly, the Nigerians announced that they had arrested Mr Taylor for trying to escape.

The former Liberian leader told the court on Tuesday that Mr Obasanjo had earlier assured him he could leave the country freely.

He said Mr Obasanjo had lied to the world when he said that he, Mr Taylor, was trying to escape. Mr Taylor said he hoped he would live to look Mr Obasanjo in the face one day and ask him to tell the truth about what happened.

Mr said he was indicted for war crimes as part of a US “regime change” plan to gain control of West African oil reserves.

Taylor wrapped up 13 weeks in the witness box by questioning the fairness of his trial by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

“I am convicted already,” Mr Taylor told the three international judges, in his final day of direct testimony in his own defense.

The tribunal is trying the 61-year-old former warlord on allegations he controlled and supported rebels who murdered and mutilated thousands of civilians during Sierra Leone’s 1992-2002 civil war.

Mr Taylor’s epic testimony — more than 250 hours on the stand — chronologically reviewed his life, from his mixed parentage and boyhood in Liberia to university in the United States, his leadership of a Liberian rebel movement, presidency and — in his version — peace-seeking West African leader.

The final days of his account had little bearing on the 11 charges he faces — and denies — including murder, rape, sexual slavery and recruiting child soldiers in neighbouring Sierra Leone.