RSS 2.0 FeedJuly Vol 3, Africa
Mbeki sold me out, says Taylor
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor began his defence against war crimes charges by accusing certain fellow African leaders of reneging on a deal that would have seen the charges quashed in return for his departure from power.
He singled out former South African president Thabo Mbeki - at the time chairperson of the African Union - and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo - then chairing the Economic Community of West African States - for failing to do "everything in their power" to secure an immunity deal, as they had apparently undertaken to do.
Taking the stand for the first time yesterday, Taylor rejected the case against him as "a house constructed on disinformation, misinformation, rumours, conjecture, speculation and lies".
| 'People have brought themselves so low - here they have me eating human beings' |
Witnesses have told the Special Court for Sierra Leone - now sitting in The Hague, Netherlands - that Taylor funded, armed and controlled the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to destabilise Sierra Leone. The RUF is blamed for many of the atrocities committed in the region between 1991 and 2001.
In return, Taylor is said to have received "mayonnaise jars" full of so-called "blood diamonds" allegedly mined by slave labour in those areas controlled by the RUF.
About 120 000 people are estimated to have died during the conflict, and thousands more were dismembered in a campaign of amputations that has become synonymous with the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Referring to prosecution witness claims that he engaged in cannibalism - a former security aide said he once watched the president devouring a human liver - Taylor said it was "very, very unfortunate" and "quite incredible" that such descriptions of him could come about.
"People have brought themselves so low - here they have me eating human beings. How can people be so low as to even think this - that Charles Taylor is supposedly sitting down with an orderly ... and eating human beings?" he asked.
He also objected to what he described as the prosecution's portrayal of him as a "common little thug" engaged in "murder and rape".
Taylor blamed his eventual political demise on the US, saying then-president George W Bush exerted "tremendous pressure" on African leaders - particularly Obasanjo - to deny him safe harbour and instead to hand him over to the UN-backed special court.
He claimed that Obasanjo, Mbeki and other leaders were attending a regional meeting in Accra, Ghana, in June 2003 when news broke that Taylor was wanted on war crimes charges.
According to Taylor, his African colleagues said the charges against him were "unacceptable" but that they immediately agreed to his own suggestion that he step down - in return for the international criminal charges being dropped.
He said Mbeki and Obasanjo had assured him such a deal could be struck.
