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U.S. Official Clarifies Charles Taylor's Position for Congress

State's Frazer says Liberia, Nigeria key to Taylor's handover to U.N. court

The fate of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, lies in the hands of the country he misruled for more than five years and in those of Nigeria where he lives in exile, says Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer.

Frazer testified before the House Africa Subcommittee February 8 on the significance of the presidential elections in Liberia that brought Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to power late in 2005. The former World Bank official is Africa's first elected female head of state.

Johnson-Sirleaf's inauguration in Monrovia in January was attended by first lady Laura Bush, who, with Frazer, applauded the new president's commitment to reforming a government and economy in large part dismantled by the corrupt and bloody rule of Charles Taylor, who became president of the West African nation in 1997.

Taylor helped destabilize the entire region, especially neighboring Sierra Leone where he backed a ferocious insurgency that chopped off people's arms and legs. After considerable international pressure, Taylor agreed to go into exile in Nigeria in 2003. He has since been indicted for war crimes by the United Nations-sponsored war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone.

House Africa Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith (Republican of New Jersey) said that "the Taylor regime was a disaster for Liberia. Taylor and his government looted the treasury and Liberia's natural resources. Taylor was also a catastrophe for his West African neighbors. Rebels who had been supported by Taylor have destabilized Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire."

Frazer agreed, saying Taylor "bears much of the responsibility for Liberia's suffering," adding that the United States consistently has called for Taylor to be brought before the Special Court in Sierra Leone.

Asked about the current legal status of Taylor, Frazer told lawmakers that "the only international obligation is that UNMIL [U.N. Mission in Liberia] arrest him" and hand him over to the court. There is an agreement between Nigeria and Liberia for Nigeria to hand Taylor over to a duly elected government of Liberia once that government makes the request, she explained. But that is a matter of "policy" between the two nations and not the result of an international process.

David Crane, a law professor at Syracuse University and founding chief prosecutor of the Special Court in Sierra Leone, told the House panel that it was important to hand over Taylor as soon as possible because as "a street fighter, a thug and a survivor" he could return to power one day "when the international community is challenged by other crises" that distract their attention from Africa's problems.

Taylor "hangs like a dark and ominous cloud over this ravaged land," Crane said, adding, "There will be no prospect for peace in Liberia or the Mano River region as long as he remains outside the custody of the international tribunal in Freetown."

Crane suggested that a special court also be established in Liberia to try Taylor for crimes against humanity committed there. "Liberia working together with the international community and under the auspices of the United Nations, can account for what Charles Taylor did to his own countrymen."

Couple both Taylor's crimes in Sierra Leone and Liberia together, Crane said, and he is "sitting as a free man in Nigeria, individually criminally responsible for the destruction of 1.2 million human beings.

"Turn Charles Taylor over to the Special Court or there will be no real future for Liberia," Crane told the lawmakers.

The Special Court has indicted 13 defendants, including Taylor, of which nine are in custody, and are set to begin their trials in Freetown.

UNMIL is tasked with providing security for the Special Court and its panel of three judges. A contingent of Mongolian, Irish and Swedish troops have been chosen for that function.

The United States has provided UNMIL with $520 million over the past two years, including $23 million for rule of law programs aimed at strengthening courts and local police.

Source: U.S. Department of State