Charles Taylor's trial puts dictators on notice
Liberia's former president becomes the first African head of state to go on trial for war crimes Monday.
By Tristan McConnell | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the June 4, 2007 edition
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Freetown, Sierra Leone - Ibrahim Koroma forgives the child rebels who chopped off his left hand nine years ago during Sierra Leone's brutal civil war, saying they were "misled." But he feels differently about Charles Taylor, the former president of neighboring Liberia, who backed Sierra Leone's rebels. "I don't feel fine about [Mr.] Taylor," says Mr. Koroma. "Let him face trial."
When Taylor stands before the judge from the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone as his trial begins in The Hague on Monday, he will make history as the first African head of state to face war-crimes charges. The faraway trial may help close a chapter for the victims of his wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia. But it also carries a message for despotic leaders everywhere.
"The greatest message that [Taylor's trial] sends is not for Sierra Leone alone but for Africa and the world that the days of impunity are finished, that if you commit these crimes, whoever you are, you will face justice," says John Caulker, executive director of Forum of Conscience, a group based in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown.
The civil conflicts Taylor fomented in Sierra Leone and Liberia cost 400,000 lives between 1989 and 2003 and were characterized by incredible brutality and the widespread use of child soldiers.
Taylor traded the Liberian presidency for exile to Nigeria in 2003, where he lived until he was arrested in March last year. Concerned that his continued presence in West Africa could cause yet more instability, regional leaders including Sierra Leone's president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf pushed for Taylor's extradition to The Hague. He will be tried by the Special Court using the facilities of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and if found guilty will serve his sentence in a British jail.
The Special Court was set up by the UN and the government of Sierra Leone in 2002 to try those who "bear the greatest responsibility" for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international law committed during the civil war. The court is judging four separate trials dealing with three different warring parties – the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) – and Taylor. Judgments are due later this month in the AFRC and CDF trials while the RUF trial is beginning to hear defense arguments.
The AFRC judgment may well result in the world's first prosecution and sentencing for the crime of recruiting and using child soldiers. Important as this is, however, Taylor's trial is the most significant in a series of international criminal investigations into atrocities and malpractice committed by heads of state in Africa.
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