Article

2006-03-17 Africa Subsaharan

Liberia has formally asked Nigeria to extradite former Liberia President Charles Taylor, Nigeria says.

"Bring us the head of Chucky Taylor!"

A spokeswoman for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said he would put the request to other African leaders.

A UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone wants to put Mr Taylor on trial for backing Sierra Leone rebels. He stood down as Liberian leader and went into exile in Nigeria in 2003 under an international deal to end a 14-year civil war. Mr Obasanjo has always refused to send Mr Taylor to Sierra Leone, saying he would only extradite him following a request from an elected Liberian leader.

Which he never expected to receive

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took power in Liberia in January after winning last year's elections and visited Nigeria earlier this month.

Mr Taylor is accused of selling diamonds and buying weapons for Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels, who were notorious for hacking off the hands and legs of civilians during a 10-year war.

Posted by Steve 2006-03-17 08:07|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Mr Obasanjo has always refused to send Mr Taylor to Sierra Leone, saying he would only extradite him following a request from an elected Liberian leader.

Didn't Liberia just inaugurate a new lady president?

Heh.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2006-03-17 08:42|| 2006-03-17 08:42|| Front Page Top

#2 Now I expect to be getting emails from Chuck's relatives.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2006-03-17 08:54|| 2006-03-17 08:54|| Front Page Top

#3 I can only make sense of this in one of three ways:
1) Ellen has reason to believe that Taylor is about to start something unpleasant, and wants to head it off.
2) Ellen thinks that Taylor's supporters are off-balance and won't be able to retaliate effectively. (Or maybe Taylor's party has a strong new leader and they won't care? It'd be news to me.)
3) Somebody is putting huge pressure on her and she doesn't think she has any choice.

If I were in her shoes I'd be really leary of having Taylor in the public eye again.

Posted by James">James 2006-03-17 09:48|| http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com]">[http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com] 2006-03-17 09:48|| Front Page Top

#4 "Chucky" is still trying to manage some affairs there.

Posted by newc">newc 2006-03-17 12:22|| 2006-03-17 12:22|| Front Page Top

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