Embattled Liberian President Charles Taylor has turned down a secret deal to give the indicted leader safe haven in Nigeria, senior U.N. diplomats told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Taylor rejected the offer for several reasons, including uncertainty over whether the offer would shield him from a U.N. indictment he is facing on war crimes charges. "There are a lot of unanswered questioned here and so Taylor isn't willing to entertain the issue right now," said one Security Council diplomat at U.N. headquarters in New York.
| Good. I'd rather see him killed. Dead men don't stage comebacks... |
The exile offer was negotiated with the help of a Security Council mission that is visiting the region and met with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo over the weekend. As part of the deal, Nigeria wouldn't turn Taylor over to the U.N.-Sierra Leone court even if the indictment stands, diplomats in the region said. |