|
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
LIBERIA: Taylor meddling in Liberian politics, diplomats say
ABIDJAN, 17 September 2003 (IRIN) - The government of Nigeria has warned exiled former Liberian president Charles Taylor to stop meddling in his country's political affairs if he wishes to remain in the country.
It issued this stern warning to Taylor on Tuesday in the light of credible reports that the former warlord had remained in close contact with several leading figures in the Liberian government.
"Nigeria wishes to state that the conditions accepted for his asylum in Nigeria clearly forbid any interference [in Liberia]...Nigeria has made it clear to Taylor that it will not tolerate any breach of this condition," the statement from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's office said.
"Nigeria forbids him from engaging in active communication with anyone engaged in political, illegal or governmental activities," it added.
Taylor was forced by rapid rebel gains and strong international pressure to relinquish power on 11 August and go into exile. Wanted for war crimes by a court in neighbouring Sierra Leone, he took up an offer of political asylum in Nigeria.
Last Friday the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative in Liberia, Jacques Klein, told reporters in New York that Taylor was still trying to run Liberia from exile and had recently been visited by Liberian government officials and businessmen.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also alluded to Taylor's continuing involvement in the affairs of Liberia in a report to the Security Council on Tuesday.
"I call upon Taylor to abide by the terms of the agreement reached with Nigeria regarding his exile and to disengage completely from Liberian politics," Annan said.
Taylor, who is wanted for war crimes by a court in Sierra Leone for supporting rebel forces during that country's 1991-2001 civil war, had resisted leaving for weeks. He finally agreed to go after Obasanjo offered a complex of three luxury bungalows in the southeastern town of Calabar to house his family and entourage.
When Taylor quit Monrovia six weeks ago, he handed over power to his vice-president, Moses Blah, who continued to govern with the same ministerial team and military high command. This regime is due to transfer power to a broad-based transitional government headed by former businessman Gyude Bryant on 14 October.
Diplomats in Monrovia told IRIN that Taylor has been in daily phone discussions with his former colleagues, several had traveled to visit him in Calabar.
Through these contacts, the diplomats said, Taylor had continued to orchestrate clashes rebel forces in the interior in violation of a peace agreement signed on 18 August.
"Taylor's parting promise to return to Liberia some day was not taken seriously at the time, but it is increasingly becoming clear that he has started to again play an active role in the war-ravaged country's politics," one senior western diplomat in Monrovia told IRIN.
A military source in the Liberian capital said: "Taylor used the weeks when his departure was being negotiated, to discuss an extensive Plan B with key officials who would remain in the country. Several officials in the current government were part of the plan."
He added: "They plan to maintain strong loyalty within the ranks of the government fighters and support the fighters with funds to buy food and weapons so that they can retain territory. Some food and weapons were ferried from Monrovia to a farm in Maliki for this purpose."
Maliki is near the central Liberian town of Gbarnga, 150 km north of Monrovia. When he was President, Taylor owned a farm there and training grounds for his elite forces. Rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) recently overran the area.
Taylor plunged Liberia into 14 years of civil war when he started a bush war against former president Samuel Doe in 1989. The fighting stopped only briefly after he won a presidential election in 1997.
He claimed to have 35,000 soldiers at his command. However military experts however said Taylor only had 20,000 fighters, most of whom belonged to ragtag militia groups that reported directly to him.
Diplomats and human rights groups say Taylor looted state revenues from exports of diamonds and timber and levied unofficial taxes on imports which went straight into his own pocket. They reckon he left power with a fortune worth hundreds of millions of dollars grabbed from state coffers.
They believe that many of Taylor's field commanders in remote areas of the interior still answered directly to him.
"It is those various unit commanders scattered all over the country that are still very much in contact with Taylor," the military source said.
Before leaving Liberia, Taylor sought assurances that Nigeria would not hand him over to the UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone.
However David Crane, Prosecutor of the Special Court, said the tribunal was determined to bring Taylor to justice. "You can not have a complete and true peace until Taylor is turned over to the Special Court for Sierra Leone because the people of West Africa will always know that he is out there and up to something," he told IRIN earlier this month.
Crane stressed: "The indictment does not go away. It will be followed by the UN and the International (Committee of the) Red Cross. He will always be a war crimes indictee whether he's tried or not. The only person who can withdraw the indictment is the Chief Prosecutor and that will not happen."
This week's Nigerian government statement contained a veiled threat to the former warlord: "The conditions for Taylor's asylum do not include sovereign immunity," it said.
Klein has said that he personally would like to see all rebel leaders responsible for atrocities in Liberia as well as Taylor face trial, although the proposals put to the Security Council this week do not provide for any Sierra Leone-style special court.
Klein told the UN Security Council on Tuesday: "An essential part of the healing and rebuilding process is the bringing to justice of those who have committed violations of international law. Without justice, there can be no healing."
"Without justice, those who believe that they can act with impunity will be tempted to do so again. Without justice, Liberia cannot bring to closure this dark past and look to a brighter future. Ultimately, until you punish the guilty, you cannot absolve the innocent," he warned.
Annan has requested that 15,000 UN peacekeepers be deployed in Liberia to replace a West African force currently policing Monrovia and its environs. The UN force to be known as UNMIL, would be supported by 875 police officers.
"We have an obligation to assist in putting an end to this cycle of brutality, violence, corruption and instability that has destroyed the social fabric of society and has also spilled over the borders of Liberia and profoundly affected the region," Klein said.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post any item on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All graphics and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the express permission of the original owner. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
