Charles Taylor (Liberia)

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Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (Liberia)
In office
August 2, 1997 – August 11, 2003
Vice President Moses Blah
Preceded by Samuel Doe
Succeeded by Moses Blah
Born January 28, 1948 (1948-01-28) (age 60)
Arthington, Liberia
Political party National Patriotic
For other persons named Charles Taylor, see Charles Taylor (disambiguation).

Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor (born January 28, 1948) served as President of Liberia from August 2, 1997 to August 11, 2003[1]. He was once Africa's most prominent warlord[2] during the First Liberian Civil War in the early 1990s, was elected president at the end of that conflict, was subsequently forced into exile, and is now in detention at the International Criminal Court, where he faces trial by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.[3]

In December 1989, Taylor launched an armed uprising from Côte d'Ivoire into Liberia to overthrow its government. His forces, known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), soon controlled most of the country. Then-president Samuel Doe was overthrown and tortured to death the following year by Prince Johnson, a former senior commander of Taylor's NPFL who broke away and formed the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia, INPFL. Doe's fall led to the political fragmentation of the country into violent factionalism. In mid-1990, Johnson's supporters split from Taylor's group and captured Monrovia for themselves, depriving Taylor of outright victory.

The civil war turned into an ethnic conflict, with seven factions fighting for control of Liberia's resources (especially iron ore, diamond, timber, and rubber).

Following the election of a new president in Liberia, the Nigerian government said on March 25, 2006 that Liberia was free to collect Taylor so that he might face war crimes charges in Liberian courts. The Nigerian government announced on March 28 that Taylor had disappeared from his residence in Calabar, Nigeria. On March 29, 2006, Taylor was arrested in Gamboru, along Nigeria's northeastern border with Cameroon. Nigerian authorities put him on a plane bound for Liberia and then handed him to the UN in Sierra Leone. On March 30, the Special Court requested permission to use the premises of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to carry out Taylor's trial, although the Special Court will still conduct the proceedings of the trial. In Taylor's absence, the trial began on June 4, 2007. He pleaded not guilty.[2]

Contents

[edit] Early years

Charles McArthur Taylor was born in Arthington, a city near Monrovia. His mother was a member of the Gola ethnic group. According to most reports his father was an Americo-Liberian, although other sources claim he was actually Afro-Trinidadian. Taylor was a student at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts from 1972 to 1977, earning a degree in economics. Taylor took the name 'Ghankay' later on, possibly to please and curry favor with the indigenous people.[4]

He was briefly arrested in 1979 after threatening to take over the Liberian diplomatic mission in New York City. On May 24, 1984, two US Deputy Marshals arrested Taylor in Somerville, Massachusetts, on a warrant for extradition to face charges of embezzling $922,000 of government funds, intended for machinery parts, into a New York bank account. Citing a fear of assassination by Liberian agents, it was announced by Taylor's lawyer, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, that Taylor would fight extradition from the safety of jail. He was detained in a House of Corrections in Plymouth, Massachusetts. On September 15, 1985, Taylor and four other inmates escaped from the jail by sawing through a bar covering a window in an unused laundry room. After dropping 12 feet to the ground by means of a knotted sheet, the five inmates climbed a fence. Shortly thereafter, Taylor and two other escapees were met at nearby Jordan Hospital by Taylor's wife, Enid, and Taylor's sister-in-law, Lucia Holmes Toweh. A getaway car was driven to Staten Island, where Taylor then disappeared. The first escapee to be caught was apprehended on September 18 in Brockton, Massachusetts; eventually all four of Taylor's fellow escapees would be tracked down, and Enid Taylor and Lucia Holmes Toweh were ordered held without bail on September 23 for driving the getaway car. Taylor managed to flee the United States and shortly thereafter went to Libya where he underwent guerrilla training under Muammar al-Gaddafi, becoming Qaddafi's protegé.[3] Eventually he left Libya and used the training he gained there to begin a civil war in Liberia.[2]

[edit] Sierra Leone Civil War

Sierra Leone Civil War
Personalities

Charles Taylor - Foday Sankoh
Hinga Norman - Ahmad Kabbah
Johnny Paul Koroma
Valentine Strasser - Solomon Musa
Armed Forces

RUF - SLA - West Side Boys
Kamajors - Executive Outcomes
ECOMOG - Sandline International
Attempts at Peace

Lomé Peace Accord - Abidjan Peace Accord
UNAMSIL - SCSL
Political Groups

SLPP - AFRC - APC
Ethnic Groups

Mende - Temne - Limba - Krio
See also

Conflict diamond - Mano River
Freetown - Liberian Civil War
edit


In 1991, Foday Sankoh began a revolutionary campaign in Sierra Leone near the Liberian border as the leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Among that initial group of about 100 revolutionaries were Sierra Leonean dissidents, mercenaries from Burkina Faso, and fighters loyal to Taylor. The relationship between Sankoh and Taylor had begun in the 1980s when both men were in Libya with the purpose of learning from and gaining Qaddafi's support. These men were joined in their opposition of what they saw to be pro-Western regimes. Once the Sierra Leone Civil War began, Sankoh relied heavily on ties with both Qaddafi and Taylor, with whom he traded conflict diamonds for guns.[5]

When in 1992, Sam Bockarie rose to the position of Battle Group Commander in the RUF, Taylor reached out to the young man, whom he may have met during Bockarie's youth. Taylor advised Bockarie off and on for the next five years, and when Sankoh went into exile in Nigeria in March 1997, Bockarie took the position of leader of the RUF. Taylor's support of Bockarie, both in the form of arms and advice, allowed the RUF to march on Freetown, and eventually forced President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah to negotiate. The Lomé Peace Accord was signed in July 1999, although violence continued until 2001.

[edit] Rise to power

After the official end of the civil war in 1996, Taylor became Liberia's president on August 2, 1997, following a landslide victory in July, in which he took 75 percent of the vote. Taylor's toughest competitor, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, only collected 10 percent of the vote. The election was judged free and fair by some observers, although Taylor's victory has been widely attributed to the belief that he would resume the war if he lost. He famously ran on the slogan "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him."[6] The elections were overseen by the United Nation's peacekeeping mission, UNOMIL (1993-1997), along with a contingent from ECOWAS.[7]

[edit] End of rule

In 1999, a rebellion against Taylor began in northern Liberia, led by a group calling itself Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). This group was frequently accused of atrocities, and is thought to have been backed by the government of neighboring Guinea.[8]

In early 2003, with LURD in control of northern Liberia, a second rebel group, called the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) and allegedly backed by the Ivorian government, emerged in southern Liberia and achieved rapid successes.[9] By the summer, Taylor's government controlled only about a third of Liberia: Monrovia and the central part of the country.

On March 7, 2003, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) indicted Taylor, charging him with crimes against humanity, an indictment which still stands. In 2003, Liberian forces killed Bockarie in a shootout under Taylor's orders. Some have claimed that Taylor ordered Bockarie killed in order to prevent Bockarie from testifying against him at the SCSL.[10]

In June 2003, a United Nations justice tribunal issued a warrant for Taylor's arrest, charging him with war crimes. The UN asserts that Taylor created and backed the RUF rebels in Sierra Leone, which are accused of a range of atrocities, including the use of child soldiers.[11] The prosecutor also said Taylor's administration had harbored members of Al-Qaeda sought in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.[12]

The indictment was issued at Taylor's official visit to Ghana. With the backing of South African president Thabo Mbeki, and against the urging of Sierra Leone president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Ghana declined to detain Taylor, who returned to Monrovia.

[edit] Resignation

During his absence for the peace talks in Ghana, it was alleged that the US urged the vice president, Moses Blah, to seize power.[13] Upon his return, Taylor briefly dismissed Blah from his post, only to reinstate him a few days later. Meanwhile, the rebel group LURD initiated a siege of Monrovia, and several bloody battles were fought as Taylor's forces defeated rebel attempts to capture the city. The pressure on Taylor increased further as U.S. President George W. Bush stated that Taylor "must leave Liberia" twice in July 2003.

Taylor insisted that he would resign only if American peacekeeping troops were deployed to Liberia. Bush publicly called upon Taylor to resign and leave the country in order for any American involvement to be considered. Meanwhile, the African states, in particular the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), under the leadership of Nigeria, sent troops to Liberia.[14] Logistical support was provided by a California company called PAE Government Services Inc., which was given a $10 million contract by the US State Department.[14] On August 6, a 32-member U.S. military assessment team were deployed as a liaison with the ECOWAS troops.[15] On July 9, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo offered Taylor safe exile in his country, but only if Taylor stayed out of Liberian politics.[16]

On August 10, Taylor appeared on national television in Liberia to announce that he would resign the following day and hand power to the nation's vice-president, Moses Blah. He harshly criticized the United States in his farewell address, saying that the Bush administration's insistence that he leave the country would hurt Liberia.[1]

On August 11, Taylor resigned, leaving Blah as his successor until a transitional government was established on October 14. At the handover were Ghanaian President John Kufuor, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, representing African regional councils. The U.S. brought three warships with 2,300 Marines into view of the coast. Taylor flew to Nigeria, where the Nigerian government provided houses for him and his entourage in Calabar.

[edit] Exile

In November 2003, the United States Congress passed a bill that included a reward offer of two million dollars for Taylor's capture. While the peace agreement had guaranteed Taylor safe exile in Nigeria, it also required that he not attempt to influence Liberian politics, a requirement his critics claim he has disregarded. On December 4, Interpol issued a "red notice," suggesting that countries have the international right to arrest him. Taylor was placed on Interpol's Most Wanted list, noted as possibly being dangerous, wanted for "crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Convention." Nigeria, where Taylor was residing, initially stated that they would not submit to Interpol's demands, unless Liberia wanted to try him; in that case Nigeria would return Taylor to Liberia for trial.

On March 6, 2004, the United States presented a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council seeking a freeze of Taylor's assets, as well as those of his family and allies.

On March 17, 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the new democratically elected President of Liberia, submitted an official request to Nigeria for Taylor's extradition. This request was granted on March 25, whereby Nigeria agreed to release Taylor to stand trial in the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Nigeria agreed only to release Taylor and not to extradite him, as no extradition treaty exists between the two countries.

[edit] Disappearance and arrest

According to a statement released on March 28, 2006, by Nigeria's government, Taylor disappeared from the seaside villa where he had been living in exile. This was three days after the Nigerian government said it would end his asylum and allow him to face an indictment by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.[17]

One week prior to his disappearance, Nigerian authorities took the unusual step of allowing local press to accompany census takers into Taylor's seaside Calabar compound. An article subsequently appeared on the BBC web site.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was scheduled to meet with United States President George W. Bush less than 48 hours after Taylor was reported missing. Speculation ensued that Bush would refuse to meet with Obasanjo if Taylor were not apprehended. Less than 12 hours prior to the scheduled meeting between the two heads of state, Taylor was reported apprehended and en route to Liberia.

On March 29, 2006, Taylor tried to cross the border into Cameroon, but he was arrested by the security forces in the border town of Gamboru in northeastern Nigeria. His Range Rover with Nigerian diplomatic plates was stopped by border guards, and Taylor's identity was eventually established. State Department staff privately noted that significant amounts of cash and heroin were found in the vehicle.

Significant debate ensued among Liberian authorities regarding responsibility for former-president Taylor's arrest. Taylor was arrested and handcuffed by unarmed Liberian National Police upon arrival at Roberts International Airport in Harbel, Liberia. Liberian National Police then immediately surrendered Taylor into UN custody. Irish UNMIL soldiers then escorted Taylor aboard a UN helicopter to Freetown, Sierra Leone to answer an indictment by the War Crimes Tribunal.

[edit] Trial

 This article documents a current court case.
Information may change rapidly as the case progresses.

Taylor was held in a UN jail in Freetown, while waiting for his extradition. He is to be tried under the auspices of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).[18] The prosecutor originally indicted Taylor on March 3, 2003 on a 654-count indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict in Sierra Leone. But, on March 16, 2006, a SCSL judge gave leave to amend the indictment against Taylor. Under the amended indictment, Taylor is charged with 650 counts. At Taylor's initial appearance before the court on April 3, 2006, he entered a plea of not guilty.[19]

In early June 2006, the decision on whether to hold Taylor's trial in Freetown or in The Hague had not yet been made by new SCSL president George Gelaga King. King's predecessor had pushed for the trial to be held abroad because of fears that a local trial would be politically destabilizing in an area where Taylor still had influence.[2] The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court dismissed a motion by Taylor's defense team, who argued that their client could not get a fair trial there and wanted the Special Court to withdraw the request to move the trial to The Hague.[20][21] On June 15, 2006, the British government agreed to jail Taylor in the event that he is convicted by the SCSL. This removed an obstacle after the Dutch government stated they would host the trial but would not jail him if convicted, and a number of European countries refused to host him. British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett stated that new legislation would be required.[22]

On June 16, 2006, the United Nations Security Council agreed unanimously to allow Taylor to be sent to The Hague for trial; on June 20, 2006, Taylor was extradited and flown to Rotterdam Airport in the Netherlands.[22] The Association for the Legal Defense of Charles G. Taylor was established in June 2006 to assist in his legal defense.

When Taylor's trial on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity[3] opened June 4, 2007, Taylor boycotted the proceeding and was not present. Through a letter which was read by his lawyer to the court, he justified his absence by alleging that at that moment he was not ensured a fair and impartial trial.[23]

On August 20, 2007, Taylor's defense obtained a postponement of the trial until January 7, 2008.[24]A key insider witness who testified against Taylor went into hiding after being threatened for giving evidence at the former Liberian president's war crimes trial, the chief prosecutor said February 28, 2008.[25]

[edit] Allegations

At the war crimes trial, Joseph "Zigzag" Marzah, a former military commander, testified that Charles Taylor celebrated his newfound status by ordering human sacrifice, including the killings of Taylor's opponents and allies that were perceived to have betrayed Taylor and having a pregnant woman buried in sand while alive.[26] Marzah also accused Taylor of forcing cannibalism on his soldiers, in order to terrorize their enemies.[27]

[edit] Taylor and Pat Robertson

According to a June 2, 1999, article in The Virginian-Pilot,[28] Taylor had extensive business dealings with televangelist Pat Robertson. According to the article, Taylor gave Robertson (who also had business dealings with dictator Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire) the rights to mine for diamonds in Liberia's mineral-rich countryside. According to two Operation Blessing pilots who reported this incident to the state of Virginia for investigation in 1994, Robertson used his Operation Blessing planes to haul diamond-mining equipment to Robertson's mines in Liberia, despite the fact that Robertson was telling his 700 Club viewers that the planes were sending relief supplies to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda. The subsequent investigation by the state of Virginia concluded that Robertson diverted his ministry's donations to the Liberian diamond-mining operation, but Attorney General of Virginia Mark Earley blocked any potential prosecution against Robertson.[29]

[edit] Taylor and Kilari Anand Paul

Taylor has obtained spiritual and other advice from the evangelist Kilari Anand Paul.[30]

[edit] Popular culture references

The character Andre Baptiste, Sr. from the movie Lord of War is said to be based on Charles Taylor.[31]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Quist-Arcton, Ofeibea. "Liberia: Charles Ghankay Taylor, Defiant And Passionate To The End", allAfrica.com, 11 August 2003. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  2. ^ a b c d Justice at last?. The Economist (2007-05-31). Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  3. ^ a b c How the mighty are falling. The Economist (2007-07-05). Retrieved on 2007-07-17.
  4. ^ Onadipe, Abiodun. "Liberia: Taylor's first year report card.(President Charles Ghankay Taylor)", Contemporary Review, The Contemporary Review Company Limited, Nov 1998. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  5. ^ Hirsch, John L. "Sierra Leone: Diamonds and the Struggle for Democracy". Boulder, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001
  6. ^ Left, Sarah. "War in Liberia", The Guardian, 4 August 2003. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  7. ^ UNOMIL. Information Technology Section/Department of Public Information (2001). Retrieved on 2008-01-18.
  8. ^ "Back to the Brink" (May 1, 2002). Human Rights Watch Report 14 (4(A)). Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  9. ^ "Liberia", Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, January 2004. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  10. ^ "The Mysterious Death of a Fugitive", The Perspective, The Perspective (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), May 7, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  11. ^ Crane, David M. (3rd March 2003), “CASE NO. SCSL - 03 - I”, The Special Court for Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone: United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone 
  12. ^ Susannah Price (2005-05-24). UN pressed over Liberia's Taylor. BBC.
  13. ^ Paye-Layleh, Jonathan. "Profile: Moses Blah", BBC News, 10 August, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  14. ^ a b Barringer, Felicity. "Nigeria Readies Peace Force for Liberia; Battles Go On", The New York Times, July 24, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-01-18. 
  15. ^ Liberia's Taylor not ready to leave. cnn.com (2003-07-07).
  16. ^ Nigeria would shield Taylor from trial. cnn.com (2003-07-10).
  17. ^ Polgreen, Lydia. "Nigeria Says Ex-President of Liberia Has Disappeared", 2006-03-29. 
  18. ^ "Charles Taylor jailed in Sierra Leone", CBC News, March 29, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  19. ^ de Silva, Desmond, QC, Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone. "Chief Prosecutor Announces the Arrival of Charles Taylor at the Special Court", Press Release from the Special Court for Sierra Leone, March 29, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  20. ^ "Will Taylor Get a Fair Trial?", New African (Sierra Leone), Feb 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  21. ^ "SIERRA LEONE: Decision on Taylor trial venue rests with head of Special Court", New African (Sierra Leone), Irin News, 19 January 2008. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  22. ^ a b "UK Agrees to Jail Charles Taylor", BBC News, 15 June 2006. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  23. ^ Hudson, Alexandra. "Taylor absent as trial gets underway", Reuters, IOL, 2007-06-04. Retrieved on 2007-06-04. 
  24. ^ Taylor trial delayed until 2008. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
  25. ^ Witness in Taylor war crimes trial in hiding after threats. CNN. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
  26. ^ "Shock testimony at Taylor trial. Al Jazeera.
  27. ^ "Top aide testifies Taylor ordered soldiers to eat victims." CNN.
  28. ^ Sizemore, Bill. "Robertson, Liberian Leader Hope to Strike Gold in Coastal Africa." The Virginian-Pilot. 2 June 1999. ( Copy found at [1].) Charles Taylor...
  29. ^ Blumenthal, Max. "Pat Robertson's Katrina Cash", The Nation Online, September 7, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  30. ^ Finnegan, William. "The Persuader", The New Yorker, September 1, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  31. ^ Collins, Joseph. "Liberian Charles Taylor's War Crimes Trial Postponed", eNews 2.0, August 20th 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 
  1. The Liberian Civil War by Mark Huband, 1998

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Ruth Perry		 President of Liberia
1997–2003		 Succeeded by
Moses Blah
v • d • e
Presidents of Liberia
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_%28Liberia%29"
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