28 March 2006
column
An old woman, Kebbeh, who knew me many years back in Buzzi Quarter called my attention sometime last week and asked: "Taylor coming again?" When I answered in the negative, she remarked: "This man is hellaba (a Liberian parlance for troublesome). If it is true that he has run away from Nigeria, then we should be very careful because he is able to bring another war." The woman's expression showed she is actually afraid and for her, Liberia with Taylor in hiding is vulnerable and in another mess. Should it be true that the tyrant Charles Ghangay Taylor has actually escaped from his exile home in Calabar, Rivers State of Nigeria, Kebbeh has good reasons to fear.
The latest rumors that Taylor has escaped from Calabar have created panic and have caused some considerable alarm. The rumor that Taylor has actually escaped from Nigeria is seemingly far from true as latest news has confirmed the man is still in Calabar.
Believing Taylor has not escaped is still difficult because anything is possible with Taylor. But what such rumors amount to is enormous fear in the people who already know him as war a monger/maker, ruthless dictator/tyrant, a man who was accused of ordering the killing of several high profile Liberians and whose security forces terrorized the citizenry.
For any reason, rumors of Taylor's escape are serious. He escaped his Rhode Island prison in the United States where security is serious business, and latter launched a rebel war on the Samuel Doe regime.
Thousands of people died, and Doe himself was assassinated by a rival rebel faction led by Prince Johnson. Today, Taylor's escape rumor is of serious matter. Every Liberian wants to know where Taylor is and how he moves. There is much anxiety of everything about Charles Taylor.
Not much has been known about Taylor since he went to Calabar because the Nigerian government has put in place a tight security around his home that makes it difficult to get to him. Although Nigerian press has reported that journalists had easy access to enter Taylor's house last week Monday, it is not clear how Taylor became easily accessible to the press, which had been nearly impossible.
One wonders how the Nigerian government could withdraw the tight security he has had for the past two years. Is that a pretext to create the corridor for Taylor's eventual escape? With Taylor's children out of Calabar where they have been living with their father, one wonders the rumors may be coming to fruition.
While the false rumors of Taylor's escape lingers, there is a debate of two schools of thought on whether or not he should be taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone to be tried in the War Crimes Court. He has been indicted with 17 charges bordering on war crimes and crimes against humanity. Taylor is wanted for his role in Sierra Leone. According to his charges, he is accused of aiding the dreaded rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in its war campaign against the Sierra Leonean government. The RUF committed heinous crimes, including but not limited to the amputation of its preys and rape. Realistically, anyone who associated with the RUF must have fallen to public disdain.
The two sides of the debate Taylor loyalists are making frantic efforts to ensure that their boss does not see Freetown, lest to go and answer to his charges there. They are alleging that the terrain is hostile and that he would not get free, fair and transparent trial at the UN-backed War Crimes Court for Sierra Leone.
One of them, who only identified himself as Ciapha, posed a series of questions to me, that he answered himself: "Do you think Taylor will get a fair trial? Don't you think all the Sierra Leonean staff members of the Court could put up hostile attitude against Taylor? Think about the cook, the security, etc. don't you think they could harm Taylor?" To all the questions he answered "yes, it is possible" without waiting for me to answer. Ciapha is not concerned with the crimes that Taylor is alleged to have committed.
In the way he spoke suggested that Taylor has committed no crime.
Like Ciapha, other Taylor loyalists ¡V the likes of Sando Johnson ¡V are fighting hard to ensure that their boss does not go to Sierra Leone. They are unanimous in believing that he would not get fair trial in Freetown. They are in fact suggesting that The Hague, Netherlands or in Arusha in Tanzania could be the best places for Taylor's trial.
The other side of the debate includes people who believe that the rule of law which Taylor professed to believe in must take its course. During his presidency, Taylor professed to be a believer in the rule of law that he coined: "Liberia is a country of laws and not of men". But there was no indication that Taylor ever believed in the rule of law. He obstructed justice ¡V ie, he sent Momo Jibba to obstruct the execution of a Supreme Court order to make Tradevco Bank pay the debt it owes a Liberian citizen; he stopped the Justice Ministry from prosecuting one of his security bodyguards, David Daniels who allegedly killed market woman Norwai Flomo, among other abrogation of the laws.
Most Liberians believe Taylor must face his accusers. One of arguments is that this court thing is also in Taylor's favor. He would certainly want to be exonerated from all the accusations and start a free life that he has not seen for more than two decades now. Taylor and Alhaji Kromah insisted in April 1996 that the late Roosevelt Johnson turned himself over to the court to exonerate himself of the charge of murder levied against him. When Johnson refused, Taylor and Kromah tried to force it and war broke out. Now that it is Taylor's turn to go to court and exonerate himself, he is refusing.
The security concerns In spite of the debate, the public harbors some fears that Taylor's loyalists could cause some security problem for the newly elected government of the Unity Party, headed by Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. In fact, there are information that elements still loyal to Taylor have been holding meetings and discussing and making some sinister plans. The information is still scanty, but many people who associate with the Taylorists know that they are capable of doing any evil without remorse of conscience.
But the question is what would be the motive of any violence out break from them. Could it be to release Taylor and take him to some "safe zone"? Could it be that they want to loot again? Could it be that they want to just cause havoc? In any case there will be violence and people might die, not excluding the trouble makers themselves. And the way I see it, all those behind any violence will be picked up and dealt with.
The argument is that UNMIL, which has a special Irish troop to deal with a rapid response situation, in addition to the Nigerians and other strong forces on the ground, one finds it difficult to see the trouble makers having their own way. It is true that violence in any kind is not good for our fragile peace and crawling democracy, but UNMIL and the Liberian people must never allow another round of conflict because of one man.
What do we stand to gain with one man stopping all the international good towards us? How can we be there and do nothing when Taylor would be the only reason we must suffer in sanctions, debt burden, and other international yokes that are keeping us down? Other nations around us are making headways but we are still backward. We must move forward.
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