Freetown, Sierra Leone – A handcuffed Charles Taylor was flown to Sierra Leone Wednesday after he was captured carrying sacks of cash, opening the way for the former Liberian president to become the first African head of state tried for war crimes by an international court.
Looking dejected, Taylor was led behind a razor-wired gate to the holding penitentiary at the U.N.-backed Sierra Leone court that has indicted him on 17 counts of crimes against humanity for supporting brutal rebels.
On Tuesday night, police caught Taylor in northern Nigeria, wearing a safari suit and carrying sacks full of dollars and euros in his car, which bore diplomatic plates.
He was trying to cross the border to Cameroon. He was captured nearly 600 miles from the villa in southern Calabar where he lived in exile and from which he reportedly disappeared Monday night.
Taylor’s imprisonment was a watershed moment for the tribunal and for West Africa, a region long shaken by Taylor’s warmongering.
“Today is a momentous occasion, an important day for international justice, the international community, and above all the people of Sierra Leone,” said Desmond de Silva, chief prosecutor of the tribunal, called the Special Court.
“His presence in the custody of the Special Court sends out the clear message that no matter how rich, powerful or feared people may be, the law is above them.”
De Silva said Taylor had been read his arrest warrant and would make his first court appearance by week’s end. Taylor, a bombastic speaker during his time in the bush and as Liberia’s president, made no comment.
Nigeria, which had hosted Taylor in exile since he stepped down in 2003, agreed reluctantly on Saturday to hand Taylor over to the Sierra Leone war-crimes tribunal.
But he vanished Monday night while traveling in a guarded convoy taking him from Calabar to Port Harcourt, site of the nearest airport.
Taylor’s charges stem from his support of the Revolutionary United Front rebels that terrorized the civilian population here for years, chopping off the arms, legs, ears and lips of their victims.
Nigeria had to admit Tuesday it had lost track of Taylor, embarrassing President Olusegun Obasanjo on the eve of a state visit to the United States where he met President Bush.
Bush congratulated Obasanjo on apprehending Taylor when they met Wednesday.
