Posted on 11/11/2003 10:06:38 AM PST by dead
Abuja
The [Nigerian] presidency yesterday said it will regard as violation of territorial integrity of the nation any attempt by the United States government to sponsor a kidnap attempt on the person of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
The reaction by presidential spokesperson, Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, followed a $2 million offer by the United States as ransom for any person who delivers the former Liberian president to face trial by the United Nation's War Crimes Tribunal.
Taylor is currently on exile in Calabar, Cross River State of Nigeria following resolution reached towards ensuring peace in Liberia.
Oyo noted that Nigeria is piqued by the latest move by the Bush administration because Presi-dent Olusegun Obasanjo "conferred with key members of the international community and also in Africa and West Africa," before brokering the peace deal in Liberia which led to Taylor's asylum in Nigeria.
She added "that anybody who comes into our country to try and kidnap any person would be running against the import of our laws and it would be a violation of the territorial integrity of the nation."
The United States government had last week submitted an appropriation bill of $87 billion to Congress to enable it tackle terrorist activities against the interest of the United States in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Liberia.
In the same bill, the U.S. government is asking for $2 million appropriation as reward for individuals or countries that handover Taylor for trial.
According to Oyo, "before Nigeria took a decision on behalf of humanity and the people of Nigeria to offer asylum to President Charles Taylor of Liberia and the offer was basically on the need to save the people of Liberia from the carnage that were being visited on them and it was upon that that the President went to Monrovia and offered the asylum. And President Taylor accepted it.
"When President George Bush came here and I recall that during the bilateral talks he praised the president (Obasanjo's) leadership role in Africa and indeed what he has done in Liberia.
"And the president has often said that his person, the people of Nigeria or the government would not be harassed by the international community for the efforts it has made to save the people of Liberia," she further remarked.
The senior special assistant who emphasised that President Obasanjo stands on the determination to ensure peace in Liberia, stated that 'but for that, Liberia would still be in more crises than it is now. The road to peace would not have been peaceful. And so the president stands on that."
Following the United States and other countries declaration earlier in the year that Taylor was a stumbling block to the return of peace to Liberia, Obasanjo and other ECOWAS leaders brokered a deal in which Taylor agreed to step down while his deputy would take-over for three months. The deputy was also to hand over to a head of the interim government comprising representatives of the rebel groups.
The peace programme has been followed to the letter with the leader of the interim government, Graham Bryant now in charge. Elections are to be conducted next year to enable full-fledged government to take over.
As part of the asylum deal, Taylor was barred from giving press interviews to the media or interfering in the on-going process in Liberia. He is expected to maintain a general low profile in Calabar where he needs the consent of the governor to travel out of town.
This $2,000,000 bounty is a bad idea. It’s going to make negotiating future tyrants into exile that much harder. Plus it sets a bad international precedent regarding bounties.
The NEWS (Monrovia)
November 10, 2003
Posted to the web November 11, 2003
Monrovia
The Nigerian Government has reportedly increased security around the residence of the former Liberian President Charles Taylor at Calabar, Nigeria.
The Nigerian Government increased security around the home of Mr. Taylor last week following reports that the United States has offered US$2 million for anyone that would yank him away from his exile home at Calabar.
Nigeria sharply reacted to the pronouncement by the U.S. Government offering US$2 million for Mr. Taylor's arrest and accused it of 'state sponsor terrorism'.
The Nigerian Government said it would not be coerced by anyone to give the former President out, and vowed that it would continue to protect Mr. Taylor until a regional decision is taken.
However, the U.S. Government maintained that it wants Mr. Taylor to face War Crimes charges in neighboring Sierra Leone for arming rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to carry out may against thousands of civilians during the ten year old civil war.
During the crisis in Sierra Leone, the limps of babies, women and elderly people were chopped by rebels of the RUF, who Mr. Taylor is alleged to have armed.
An expert on African affairs told the BBC from Washington that it is an outrageous affront to Nigeria's sovereignty about Taylor's arrest and a callous disregard to west Africa cooperation.
He said the United States had the opportunity to arrest Mr. Taylor in Liberia if they were really sincere about it, but, "they didn't," he argued.
According to the expert, the Americans had three war ships off the cost of Monrovia and could have arrested him if they wanted to.
He said if the United States really wants Mr. Taylor extradited, the process of his extradition should be worked out diplomatically with the involvement of regional countries.
Mr. Taylor, who is wanted in Sierra Leone for having allegedly committed crimes against humanity, went to exile in Nigeria on August 11, as part of a regional peace agreement on Liberia.
Last week, lawyers defending Mr. Taylor presented arguments before a Panel of Judges at the United Nations-back court about immunity and other issues concerning his indictment.
Justice Geoffrey Robertson, President of the Special Court, announced the adjournment of the preliminary hearings last Friday, saying that ruling into the motions presented by Taylor's lawyers would be delivered in two weeks.
In their motion, Taylor's Counsels challenged the legality of the court, saying that it lacked jurisdiction to try him.
It may have been meant as a simple gesture, but if some mercenary Americans go in there and start shooting up the place, the blame is going to be placed directly, and correctly, on Bush and the US congress.
I should just say Bush, though, since the international and US media will only focus on his culpability.
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