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Liberia: 'Zigzag' Unclothes Taylor
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The Analyst (Monrovia)
19 March 2008
Posted to the web 19 March 2008
Whether the former Liberian President will get off the hook of the International Community or not, observers say, depends on the weight of the testimonies adduced against him by witnesses and the relative accuracy with which they are presented to the Court.
The particular case is reaching its all time high. According to observers, given the kinds of revelations coming from the witnesses, especially someone who is said to have closely worked with the former rebel leader, "Zigzag" Marzah has exhausted his testimony but not without revealing what most Liberians had not heard of their former president, the munching of human hearts.
Observers say Zigzag has "unclothed his former boss. The Analyst looks at the issues as contained in Zigzag's testimony and the position of the defense of Taylor.
Closing his testimony at the ongoing trial of Charles Taylor, Joseph D. "Zigzag" Marzah did not forget telling the court that his former boss had engaged in cannibalism.
According to the former fighter of the NPFL, Mr. Taylor preyed on human hearts, but Taylor's defense rubbished his claims and argued that he was at no time closed to him (Taylor), meaning that his testimonies had no semblance of accuracy.
The trial has taken a two- week break and will resume with more witnesses, apparently those of Mr. Taylor.
But the Defense argument that Marzah was never close to their client (Taylor) angered Marzah and alleged that he, Taylor and Benjamin Yeaten were all in the same poro society and that Taylor himself had eaten human hearts with him on multiple occasions.
Marzah appeared shaken and crossed himself, explaining that he had broken the laws of his Poro society and exposed its secrets. Throughout the day, Lead Defense Counsel Courtenay Griffiths continued to point to discrepancies between Marzah's testimony and earlier statements he had given to the prosecution.
Griffiths also continued to argue that Marzah was not senior enough in the NPFL to have taken orders from Taylor, that arms shipments from Liberia to Sierra Leone would have been impossible while ECOMOG peacekeepers controlled the roads and airports, and that Marzah was simply lying. Griffiths suggested that prosecution's payments to Marzah gave him a reason to lie about Taylor.
At one point during the morning the Court went into a brief private session when Griffiths wanted to pose questions to the witness that raised the witness' protection concerns. It then returned to open session.
Did ECOMOG prevent or assist arms deliveries to Sierra Leone?
Griffiths asked Marzah about the period of the interim government in Liberia, and Marzah agreed that in 1996-1997 there were many peacekeepers from the Economic Community of West African States in Liberia, although he couldn't say how many. Marzah agreed that these mostly Nigerian ECOMOG peacekeepers were based at Roberts International Airfield, the Buchanan Port, and stationed at checkpoints along all major and minor roads in the country.
Even before Griffiths challenged Marzah about how he could have shipped weapons and ammunition to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone at Taylor's orders if ECOMOG controlled these routes, Marzah argued that some Nigerian officers in ECOMOG were corrupt and had been bribed by Taylor.
Specifically, he testified that a Nigerian captain named Victor (not General Victor Malu), he said, had been assigned to Taylor's residence, and had arranged for Taylor and his men to transport weapons through the airport, and past checkpoints in ECOMOG vehicles.
Marzah couldn't recall the officer's surname, but said he had been shot and wounded in an attack on the Executive Mansion. Marzah testified that some Nigerians with ECOMOG assisted the onward delivery of weapons and ammunition to Sierra Leone, in connivance with Taylor.
Marzah couldn't say where this Nigerian Captain, Victor, had lived, at which point Griffiths asked why he wouldn't know such a thing if Marzah had really been as important as he claimed. Marzah replied that he was the third highest official in Liberia after Taylor and Yeaten due to their shared membership in a poro society. At this point, he said that he had eaten human beings with Charles Taylor.
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Griffiths asked Marzah why he had never previously mentioned this bribery scheme relating to ECOMOG to prosecution investigators. Marzah answered that there was so much to tell about what he had done, and that he answered questions as they came.
Griffiths asked Marzah about the UN-supervised disarmament at the time of the interim government. Marzah testified that only the "ugly" (damaged) weapons had been destroyed, and that Taylor had ordered the good weapons buried, and transported some to Gbarnga. They had been assisted in this by the Nigerian officer, Victor.
Griffiths suggested to Marzah that he was lying about taking arms and ammunition to Sierra Leone for Taylor, that in 1996-1997 this would have been impossible due to the ECOMOG presence, and that any weapons Marzah had sold to the RUF had been done privately for his own gain. Marzah denied lying, and testified that anyone acting without Taylor's orders would have been risking their life.
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Wow, wow, hold on one second here, which Poro Society did these guys go to? Cannabilism is not the secret of my Poro Society.
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