Apparemment bientôt en guerre civile ... again!
- Moumine -------------------------------------------
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY, Associated Press Writer
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - A U.N.-backed war crimes court indicted Liberian
President Charles Taylor on Wednesday, accusing him of "the greatest
responsibility" in the vicious 10-year civil war in neighboring Sierra
Leone.
The indictment touched off panic in the Liberian capital, Monrovia.
Thousands of civilians, apparently afraid that Taylor's regime was near
collapse, fled their homes, while security forces roamed the city in
machine-gun mounted jeeps.
Liberian Gen. Benjamin Yeaten went on radio to tell Liberia's military to
return to their barracks.
Taylor, a warlord-turned-president, long has been accused of arming Sierra
Leone's Revolutionary United Front, which killed, raped, kidnapped and
maimed tens of thousands of civilians in the 1990s as it battled for control
of Sierra Leone's diamond fields.
Prosecutors at the Sierra Leone court issued an arrest warrant for Taylor in
Ghana, where he was making a rare trip abroad for peace talks with Liberian
rebels controlling about 60 percent of his country.
The indictment accused Taylor of "bearing the greatest responsibility for
war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international
humanitarian law" during Sierra Leone's civil war.
"My office was given an international mandate by the United Nations (news -
web sites) and the Republic of Sierra Leone to follow the evidence
impartially wherever it leads," the court's American prosecutor, David
Crane, said in a statement. "It has led us unequivocally to Taylor."
Minutes after the indictment was made public, Taylor appeared at the talks'
opening ceremony in Accra, Ghana's capital.
Ghana Attorney General Papa Owusu Ankomah said late Wednesday authorities
had not received the warrant. When they did, he said, Ghana authorities
would have to review the court's jurisdiction and whether it was within
diplomatic protocol to act on it.
Looking tense, Taylor, in sunglasses and cream-colored suit, stepped away
from his motorcade and walked slowly into the conference hall with other
west African officials. He did not speak to reporters.
Inside, Taylor told delegates he would step down if he's seen as an obstacle
to peace in Liberia. He did not mention the Sierra Leone indictment.
"If President Taylor is seen as a problem, then I will remove myself,"
Taylor said. "I'm doing this because I'm tired of the people dying. I can no
longer see this genocide in Liberia."
Taylor has spoken of elections later this year, but no firm date has been
set. He told delegates he intended to leave office when his term expires,
though he hasn't said exactly when that will be.
"It has become apparent that some people believe that Taylor is the
problem," Taylor said, speaking vaguely of himself in the third person.
"President Taylor wants to say that he intends to remove himself from the
process."
A former gas station attendant in Boston, Taylor sparked civil war in
Liberia in 1989 with a failed coup attempt. The war has killed hundreds of
thousands in the West African country, which was founded by freed American
slaves in the 19th century.
He took power in a democratic election in 1997, after emerging as the
strongest warlord from the conflict.
The Sierra Leone indictment and arrest warrant set up a potential showdown
between Taylor and prosecutors of the U.N.-endorsed court. West African
mediators were expected to be reluctant to see Taylor taken into custody
after they had invited him to Ghana for peace talks.
There was no evident move to enforce the warrant and indictments, announced
with Africa's top leaders — Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo
of Nigeria, and at least three other presidents — in attendance with Taylor
in Accra.
It was not clear who would have standing to arrest Taylor. David Coker, a
spokesman for a U.N. peace mission in Sierra Leone, called it the
responsibility of the Sierra Leone government.
U.N. refugee chief Rudd Lubbers, touring West Africa last month, openly
called for Taylor's forced removal, calling him the "center" of the wars
roiling the region.
Military intervention by the United Nations, the west African nation of
Guinea and former colonial ruler Britain ended the Sierra Leone war in
January 2002.
Crane acknowledged that the indictment was timed to Taylor's trip out of
Liberia.
"To ensure the legitimacy of these negotiations, it is imperative that the
attendees know they are dealing with an indicted war criminal," Crane said.
Crane insisted the talks should move forward without Taylor, saying evidence
for the indictment "raises serious questions about Taylor's suitability to
be a guarantor of any deal, let alone a peace agreement."
The Sierra Leone tribunal was created by an agreement between the United
Nations and Sierra Leone to try serious violations committed since Nov. 30,
1996, when rebels signed a peace accord that failed to end the war.
American and British prosecutors have taken top roles in the U.N.-Sierra
Leone court. The United States, while refusing to support a standing
international war-crimes court, has backed creation of individual courts
such as that for Sierra Leone.
The United Nations has put Taylor under sanctions on allegations of
gunrunning and other trafficking with West Africa's many rebel movements.
The sanctions include a ban on travel outside of Liberia. It was not clear
if the trip to the Ghana peace talks violated the travel ban.
Sierra Leone's war crimes tribunal differs from those of Rwanda and
Yugoslavia in that its proceedings will be held in the country and include a
mix of local and international prosecutors and judges.
_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
----------------------------------------------------------------
Visitez http://www.mAliLink.net pour vous deconnecter
Service offert par http://www.afribone.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (c) mAliLink