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| Africa: East |
| Liberia’s Interim Leader Apologies for Sierra Leone War |
| 2003-11-06 |
| The head of Liberia’s interim government apologized Thursday for his country’s role in fueling a 10-year war in Sierra Leone - a gesture toward mending relations after the exile of indicted war criminal and ex-President Charles Taylor. "Not all of us endorse what has happened, and we deeply regret what happened," Gyude Bryant said after meeting with Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. "It was Chuck’s idea, I had nothing to do with it!" "I beg you to forgive us, put away the bitterness of the past and let us live and work together to move our countries forward." "I’m trying to steal, er, run a country here" Taylor, who resigned in August besieged by rebels and under international pressure, faces war crimes charges for being a major supporter of Sierra Leone’s brutal insurgency. Exiled this year after a peace deal ended a civil war in Liberia, Taylor now lives in Nigeria. It is considered unlikely that he would appear before the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, though he has sent lawyers to argue on his behalf. |
| Posted by:Steve |