By Daniel Balint-Kurti
Calabar, Nigeria - Wanted on war-crimes charges, Liberia's former president Charles Taylor is keeping out of sight as he nears a second year of exile in a jungle-encircled African city.
His host country, Nigeria, is under increasing pressure to expel the one-time warlord from his all-expenses-paid purgatory and hand him to a United Nations-backed tribunal to be tried on accusations he meddled in another country's civil war - Sierra Leone's. The United States said on Tuesday that "the time has come for this to happen".
Taylor's spokesperson, Vaani Paasawe, denies allegations by the Sierra Leone-based court that Taylor is plotting fresh turmoil in West Africa, where he has long been accused of playing a central role in the region's mayhem.
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| 'We believe that justice will not be complete until Charles Taylor appears before the court' |
The UN-backed tribunal has increased calls in recent weeks for Taylor to be immediately handed over for trial, accusing Taylor of violating his asylum agreement by meddling in the affairs of Liberia and its neighbours. Prosecutors accuse him of ties to al-Qaeda.
The United States helped arrange Taylor's flight as rebels besieged his capital, Monrovia, in August 2003. Then, the world applauded Nigeria for granting Taylor asylum, saying that was the only way to bring peace to Liberia.
Now, the United States is among those who say Taylor should be extradited.
"We believe that justice will not be complete until Charles Taylor appears before the court to answer the charges against him, and believe the time has come for this to happen," said Rudolph Stewart, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Nigeria.
He said that President Olusegun Obasanjo had not gone far enough by offering to hand Taylor over to Liberia, rather than the court in Sierra Leone, if the government that results from October elections requested it.
"We have asked them to expedite this timetable. We do believe that Taylor will be transferred to the court," said Stewart in an email.
The anti-Taylor chorus has heightened its pitch in recent months as the UN-backed court, based in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, said it has new evidence showing Taylor was behind a January attempt to assassinate Guinea President Lansana Conte - himself accused of backing the rebels that fought against Taylor.
The war crimes court accuses Taylor of backing rebels notorious for hacking off hands and arms in the 1991-2002 Sierra Leone civil war, allegations Taylor denies.
After assassinating Conte, Taylor hoped to relocate to Guinea, where he is already forming a new rebel group, the court says.
Sierra Leone's government would be attacked next, and the war crimes court "disrupted," according to an internal document, which says all this is scheduled to take place by the time of Liberia's October 11 presidential elections.
Sierra Leone for the first time last week called for Taylor to be handed to the war crimes tribunal. Until then, it had kept quiet so as not to be seen as trying to influence the court.
Taylor triggered Liberia's descent into violence when he launched an insurgency from neighbouring Ivory Coast in 1989 - hastening a cycle of violence across West Africa.
The peace deal under which Taylor left Liberia brought an end to 14 years of conflict, in which an estimated 250 000 died. The country's fragile peace is now monitored by 15 000 UN troops.
Taylor vowed upon his departure to return to Liberia but Paasawe says a return to power is the last thing on the former ruler's mind and denied all the allegations.
"He has told me categorically, he does not want to be president," Paasawe said. "He would like to return to Liberia, certainly - as a former president. He has finally realised that he has served his time."
Paasawe also said Taylor would break a long media blackout and hold a press conference August 11 - two months to the day before elections in his homeland.
A spokesperson for the Nigerian president, Femi Fani-Kayode, said media interviews are not allowed under an unwritten asylum agreement with Taylor, and that Taylor has not informed Nigerian authorities of the planned statement.
"He is being monitored very closely and we certainly won't tolerate a situation where he operates outside the conditions. If necessary, extra steps will be taken," said Fani-Kayode.
Taylor himself was unavailable to speak to the press during a recent attempt to visit him in the verdant south-east Nigeria town of Calabar. The government has provided him with a cream-coloured villa overlooking a winding river and forest as far as the eye can see.
Armed Nigerian police guard his hillside road near the Cameroon border. About 200 family members and wards are in Calabar with him.
Paasawe was unwilling to say if Taylor - accused of surreptitiously slipping from Nigeria to conspire against his many foes - was even home. - Sapa-AP
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