The Hague — Charles Taylor today made efforts to refute a prosecution witness' claim that Mr. Taylor was part of a common plan to destabilize West Africa.
Between Febrary 8 to 11 2008, the Prosecution's eleventh witness, a Gambian named Suwandi Camara, testified that that Mr. Taylor, together with Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh, and a Gambian rebel leader named Dr. Mani met in Burkina Faso and developed a common plan to destabilize West Africa. The witness also testified that Mr. Taylor recruited and armed children under the age of 15 years. (Mr. Camara was a linkage witness who said he was trained alongside Mr. Taylor in Libya and later became part of Mr. Taylor's Special Security Service (SSS)).
In his testimony today, Mr. Taylor denied ever knowing the Suwandi Camara and dismissed as lies the witness' claims that he (Mr. Taylor) had plans to destabilize West Africa.
"There was no such thing like this that occured," Mr. Taylor said.
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Asked by his defense counsel, Courtenay Griffiths, whether he did "coordinate such a movement with Dr. Mani and Foday Sankoh," Mr. Taylor said no. He elaborated that "there was not one Sierra Leonean, not one Sierra Leonean in Burkina Faso. The only people that were in Burkina Faso were the Gambians and Dr. Mani had come to Burkina Faso not along with the Liberian group."
Mr. Taylor also denied Witness Camara's testimony that when United Liberation Movement for Democracy (ULIMO-K) rebels attacked the Liberian town of Gbangha in 1994, Mr. Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) called on reinforcements from RUF rebels in Sierra Leone. "To reinforce Gbangha with the RUF means they (RUF) will have to fight through the entire ULIMO line right upto Gbangha," Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor also said that by the time ULIMO-K rebels attacked Gbangha, the NPFL no longer had a relationship with the RUF. "We have had our day with the RUF and it ended in 1992," he said.
In his testimony in February, Witness Camara claimed that he was a training instructor for the NPFL at the Gbartala training base in Liberia and that under his command, the NPFL recruited and trained young children who were under the age of 15 years. Mr. Taylor told the judges today that "that was a blatant lie and there will be witnesses to prove that it is a lie."
Explaining the role that children played in NPFL territory, Mr. Taylor said "people that were under the age of 18 were not trained as military personnel in the NPFL. They were family members associated with soldiers that helped to take care of them in their home, cooking for them, but they were not recruits of the NPFL. They did not have any command structure. If you have a bigger brother, you follow him, you were with him, but there was no fixed command structure of any group calling themselves SBU[Small Boys Unit]."
The prosecution has alleged that Mr. Taylor maintained a relationship with RUF rebels throughout the conflicts in both Sierra Leone and Liberia and that together with the RUF's leader, Foday Sankoh, he developed a common plan to wage war against the people and government of Sierra Leone. Prosecution witnesses have testified to the pattern of operations in Mr. Taylor's NPFL such as the use of child soldiers called SBUs, and have related the same patterns in the RUF where the child combatants were also called SBUs. Mr. Taylor has denied these allegations.
Mr. Taylor also reinforced in court today the role he played in getting the RUF and the government of Sierra Leone to sign a peace agreement in 1999. In his testimony today, Mr. Taylor told the judges that after the signing of the peace agreement in Togo, he was able to convince RUF leader Foday Sankoh to travel and be based in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. He said he proposed that his government will assign a special ambassador to assist in the implementation of the peace agreement between the RUF and the Sierra Leone government as well as the establishment of a hot-line to facilitate communication between himself and then Sierra Leonean president Ahbed Tejan Kabbah. He said that while the hot-line was not established, he was still able to "establish regular communication" with President Kabbah.
Mr. Taylor also revealed today that western countries were not very supportive of the peace agreement between the RUF and the Sierra Leone government. In his testimony today, he said that "members of the international community, especially the western countries, did not like certain aspects of the agreement and they hinted that they will not support it, for example, the provision granting amnesty to combatants and the positions that were given to the RUF in the government." Mr. Taylor said he informed the United Nations Secretary General that any such step by western countries not to support the peace agreement will undermine the peace efforts in the country.
Mr. Taylor's testimony continues tomorrow.
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Mr. Taylor ls indeed right... he did not planned along with anyone to wage war on West Africa as others are claiming. He simply took up arm along with other Liberians who felt that their fundamental rights under the Laws of Liberia was being hajacked by former President Doe. l'm not suprise by the comments that are comimg from most of those very people who, along with their relatives and friends, murdered thousands of Liberian prior to the coming of the NPFL. Taylor stood up...when there was no one to come to the rescue of the Liberian people. The NPFL committed human right abuses.....no one is disputing that,.....but such is the characteristic of war! During the American civil war a lot of Americans die. Same can be said of other great nations, and Liberia is no exception. War is not good! So those who provoked such situations should take the greatest blame..... ln the case of Liberia, its not Mr. Taylor, but those who killed us prior to the coming of the NPFL.
So exotic indeed.You may go happily cause my destructive shells are all disconnected.Take your notion in your back pockets.We're very happy with your comments and post.
I just want to say that Charles Taylor is a big liar. I was in liberia durng the CIVIL war 1990-1998. I saw lot of young boys that was carrying arms, calling themself SBU (SMALL BOY UNIT). Some of them was even Taylor gurd.
How can denied that?
George Bush might have been bad for America, but was certainly good for Liberia. If it wasnt for Bush, this criminal (Charles Taylor) and his criminal son would still be terrorizing the people of Liberia and running their personal criminal empire. You arent so tough now Charlie, are you? You are sitting in that witness stand and lying your teeth off. The funny thing is, this guy is so convincing that the court might even let him off. I must say, Charlie, you are not so typical; you have some extraordinary abilities. You scammed your way into the hearts of the Liberian people after you murdered hundreds of thousands of our citizens and dragged our country back to the Stone Age. By the way, its a common misconception that Liberians coercively elected Taylor. The people of Liberia genuinely liked this guy. Just like cyber criminals conning their way into your bank account, Taylor conned his way into our hearts; we liked him sincerely. We thought that Taylor was our long -awaited true leader. Well, he had no interest in leading Liberia. His true interest was to destabilize the region of West Africa and somehow tap into the wealth and resources of these countries. He needed a base from which he could launch, and a personal piggy bank from which he could finance his plans, and Liberia was perfect. You used our country; you used us but unfortunately you wont pay for it by a manner which you deserve. I would like to say you will answer to God for what you did, but by religious account, God created you and apparently allowed you to place the people of Liberia in what seems to be endless misery. Thanks to you, were the fourth poorest nation in the world, with 76% illiteracy rate and a life expectancy of 45 years. Generations of Liberians will suffer and die prematurely because of you. Youre the Hitler of West Africa. You should shoot yourself in the head, not try to lie your way out.
I couldn't agreed with you more my brother.Taylor is one of those devils in sheep skin. What he fails to realize is that there is a day of reckoning for such like him. This man ruined the lives of so many innocent people and left an entire generation hopeless in their own countries.Let this be a lesson for Liberians; because this guy was supported by bunch of self seeking rats that benefited from his horror. I say to them, the God that we served is a just God and everyone of them will face his judgement. At the moment, there are still fools right there in Liberia that still beliefs in the canabal called Taylor. I thought he(Taylor)claimed to be a great leader, why is he lying to save his own throat. Every Liberian that witnessed the carnaged that took will agreed with every indictment that is brought against this criminal. He's cool hearted murderer that needs to ask for forgiveness from the people of Liberia, Sierra Leoone, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Gambia. I hope the international community will not let this murderer out of prison. He's an icon of destruction and hopelessness.
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