Charles Taylor did not send fighters to destablize neighbouring Ivory Coast, the accused former Liberian president told Special Court for Sierra Leone judges today.
Mr. Taylor, who stands accused of supporting rebel forces in Sierra Leone, was responding to prosecution allegations that he had an agenda to destabilize the West African sub-region by not only supporting Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone, but that he also gave similar support to other rebel forces in the Ivory Coast. Lead prosecutor, Brenda Hollis, today read several reports in court which alleged that Mr. Taylor did send fighters to Ivory Coast in support of rebel groups in that country. Mr. Taylor dismissed all the reports as “totally incorrect.”
Reading from a May 2005 Frontline World news interview with Mr. Taylor’s former defense minister Daniel Cheah, Ms. Hollis quoted Mr. Cheah as saying that “On the Ivorian issue, when I realised that militia forces from Liberia were involved, I talked to him [Mr. Taylor] one day… and I said ‘Look, before going into an area, you must have an objective, either military or political, and in this case, we have none. We have our own issues, we are under attack by LURD [Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development] forces.’ And he said to me, ‘Well, Dan, sometimes there are things that you do not understand. There are too many things happening in this region, and sometimes you can be consumed, and you can be assured that whatever it is will get under control.’”
Mr. Taylor dismissed the news report as “untrue.”
“That is not right. This is an interview. No one knows who conducted the interview, no one knows this paper. My minister of defense, knowing that I was fighting a war, could not have said this to me,” Mr. Taylor said.
Ms. Hollis also read a portion of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) report in which it is stated that “October 21, 2002: The incursion by Benjamin Yeaten, Joe Tuah, Edward Zarmey, Joe Walloe, Osebeo Dehmin, and Mathew Karn into Ivory Coast on the mandate of Charles Taylor. The purpose of the incursion was to act as mercenaries for Philip Doh. A number of people died in the operation, including those who refused to sign on.”
Mr. Taylor also dismissed the TRC’s findings as untrue, saying that it is merely somebody’s opinion.
“That’s total nonsense. Totally incorrect. This is an opinion of somebody that has not been tested in this court. Totally incorrect,” he said.
Also read in court by Ms. Hollis was an April 2003 report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) which revealed that after the assassination of the Ivory Coast’s former military ruler, Robert Guei, Mr. Taylor sent fighters to assist Mr. Guei’s supporters who had promised to revenge the former military ruler’s death.
“At least 500 fighters from Mr. Taylor’s former NPFL [National Patriotic Front of Liberia] rebel group, from the Sierra Leone RUF and ‘able bodied men and women trained in Nimba County, apparently crossed into Danane to join fighters that had been loyal to General Guei. Liberians in Nimba County reportedly saw Taylor’s commanders Benjamen Yeaten and Roland Duo take truckloads of Liberian fighters recruited in Nimba County to Danene late at night every week following Guei’s death,” the report said.
In his response to the ICG report, Mr. Taylor said that “I diasgree with everything you have read here. I disagree with this… it is warped. It is totally incorrect, everything that you have read.”
Ms. Hollis further read from the 2003 United Nations Panel of Experts report in which it was alleged that rebel forces in Ivory Coast admitted that they had received support from Mr. Taylor.
“Political leaders of the forces nouvelle acknowledged to the panel that they had asked for and received support from Charles Taylor,” the UN Expert’s report read.
Mr. Taylor again dismissed the contents of the report as “totally incorrect.”
While Mr. Taylor is being tried for his alleged support to RUF rebel forces in Sierra Leone, prosecutors have sought to establish that Mr. Taylor had a policy to destabilize the West African sub-region by supporting rebel groups in various countries including in Ivory Coast. To establish that Mr. Taylor’s activities in Sierra Leone were of a consistent pattern, prosecutors have tried to lead evidence on his alleged activities in Ivory Coast, arguing that it was similar to that of his alleged support to RUF rebels in Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor has maintained that his involvement in these countries was merely to enhance peace in the sub-region. Ms. Hollis said otherwise.
“Mr. Taylor, in the Ivory Coast, while you were publicly presenting yourself as working for peace, you were in fact involved in escalating and continuing the conflict in Ivory Coast…And in fact Mr. Taylor, that is similar to your approach regarding Sierra Leone, isn’t it?” Ms. Hollis asked Mr. Taylor.
Mr. Taylor responded that “that is not correct.”
Also in his cross-examination today, Mr. Taylor dismissed suggestions that he ordered the execution of RUF commander Sam Bockarie because he knew that Mr. Bockarie had been indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone and he did not want Mr. Bockarie in the hands of the court.
While denying that he ordered the execution of Mr. Bockarie, Mr. Taylor also insisted that at the time of Mr. Bockarie’s death in 2003, he did not know that Mr. Bockarie had been indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Ms. Hollis read news reports which revealed that as of March 10, 2003, seven people had been indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone and this included Mr. Bockarie. Mr. Taylor insisted that he did not hear the news reports.
“I did not hear the announcement,” Mr. Taylor said.
“With all due respect counsel, I was not aware of the list of people that had been indicted,” the former president added.
Ms. Hollis also read a BBC news article which indicated that after the arrests of some people who had been indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, a public request was also made that any government in the possession of two accused persons who remained at large, including Mr. Bockarie, were to be handed over to the court. Mr. Taylor also maintained that he was not aware of the request.
“Truthfully, I was not aware.”
Mr. Taylor is responding to charges that he was involved in a joint criminal enterprise with RUF rebels in Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor has denied allegations that he supplied arms and ammunition to the rebels in return for Sierra Leone’s blood diamonds and that he helped them plan certain operations during which atrocities such as rape, murder and amputation of civilian arms were committed. From July 14 to November 10, 2009, Mr. Taylor testified in direct-examination as a witness in his own defense.
Mr. Taylor’s cross-examination continues tomorrow.
Comments Post a comment
Complete nonsense, total nonsense, that's not true, and so on. For God's sake, why can't this guy tell the truth! Will lies set him free? God forbid !!!!! Did Charles Taylor forget to know that all his evil deeds were going to backfire on him? Was he completely under the possession of his father the Devil ( Satan )when he was carrying on his killing sprees? The Judges need to stop the trial now and throw that monster into the bottomless pit was prepared for the Devil and his followers.
Until they can prove Charles Taylor wrong, he is saying the fact. Remember "Innocent until proven guilty." This statement says everything I want to say. I am really astonish, all of those Sierra Leoneans prosecuters cant come out with a question to substantiate Taylor's role in the Sierra Leonean conflict, that is a "SHAME!" for which I recommend they come to Liberia to attend the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, maybe that would help them in being better prosecutors. WHy will you accused someone of destabilizing a country without facts? This is STUPID!!! But my appeal to the international community is to keep Taylor because he is a threat to West African peace, I think. Because the Sierra leoneans sent DUMB ASSES they called prosecuters, who are blundering a lot. To be honest, if this goes as a fair-trial, I am of the strongest conviction that Taylor wont be guilty because I monitored the cross-examination and found out that the sierra leoneans prosecuters are all fatheaded and money eaters.
PrimaFAcie,With all your faded notions on Sierra Leonean prosecutors,I don't blame you but I still stand with you because you wrote to say that"Taylor is a threat to African Peace".As I sit to reply to your comments I feel to burst with laughter,when you say Sierra Leoneans should come to Liberia to attend the Louise Arthur Grimes School of Law.Do you have good Lawyers in Liberia? Name me three International,notable ones teaching in that Law school.
Don't tell me of John Carender,Charles Brumskin or Pearson.Where are the books or papers written by your PhD Lawyers of Liberia? What I see they practice in Liberian courts in the past,was a 'Kangaroo system of laws, trials and verdicts'.Please check and get the profiles of those prosecutors before you make such a sycophant analysis of trying to build the educational capability of your Law School,when infact it is not of standard even in West Africa.
PrimaFAcie,we started good but don't allow yourself to be "booed" by our excellent FBC students in Sierra Leone or even Bo School for Boys.Because they'll turn your suggestions to that of the game of a 'maching band tricks'.Aki, have told you the right thing. You think Taylor is educated? Thank God he is litrate,which has enabled him to dance around with his Liberian way of diction.Keep Cool Boy!
Even though I am overly-engaged in academic protocols, that is, working on obtaining my F-1 student visa, and also studying for my university classes, it behooves me greatly to refute your dangling thesis of Liberian lawyers not being famous in their practice which is totally misleading and baloney to the zenith. With all due respect to their boundless legal supremacy, you did mention Counsellor Charles Walker Brumskine and others, but you left key personalities out, that I which you permit me to mention some of them, but due to the prolongation of time, I would strongly recommend you know and read the biography of Cllr. Varney Sherman. Not only is he one of the corporate Liberian lawyers that graduated from Harvard University with a magma cum laude, but he spends most of his time out of Liberia pleading and winning crucial international cases. Hence, claiming that Liberian lawyers do not know the modus operandi of the legal arena, clearly indicate to me that you need to be lobotomized.
I stand to be corrected. Unable to quote you verbatim,I think I overheard you stated that the educational system in Sierra Leone is better than the one in Liberia; or Sierra Leoneans students are more competent than Liberian students. If is that what you said, you might be cajoling your system because we have lot of Sierra Leonean college/university professors that are employed. They complained not only about the low-pay rate in your country, but also its debaucherousness which also extends to the educational system. And please do not argue that they are competent so they have the ability to teach anywhere because we look down at Sierra Leoneans in every aspect of life to be honest, so for a Liberian professor to come in Sierra Leone and teach, is an ABOMINATION!!!
Let me make this crystal clear again so maybe it can always reverberate between the both of you and around every Sierra Leonean. I am aligned with charles Taylor not only because he is the former president of Mama Liberia, but also because there had been no incriminating evidence to substantiate his involvement in destabilizing neighboring Sierra Leone. So, since I am not a resident or citizen of Canada which legal system is based on "Guilty Until Proven Innocent," but mine legal system and international law is based on "Innocent Until proven Guilty," I dont have the audacity to state that Charles Taylor is guilty until that can be proven except I want to be narrow-minded like others. If I have to think in this manner, I will betray my parents who had spent, and still spending lot of monies in building my human resource capacity.
I adjourn my points with this concluding paragraph due to the fact that I am sandwiched with assignments and engaging personal life situations. As I mentioned previously, even though we considered Sierra Leoneans as humans like we Liberians because God created everyone equal, we condoned them in every aspects of life. Maybe that could be one of the major reasons that your most renowned persecutors are considered as "FOOLS" in the face of Charles Taylor for which they are jittering on their own questions even though he has a mere bachelor degree in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Also, I wish I have the opportunity to debate with a Fulbright student that is my preponderant so I can provoke him to a mere ridicule, to exhibit the proficiency of a mediocre Liberian College/Univeristy student since I am a better orator than a writer.
PrimaF,I have just realized on this site that you've caused or created a complete agony, that has heightened the possibility of a pandemonium amongst the educated Lawyers of Sierra Leone and those "Flaka Jys" of LIB. Well,our educated prosecutors have referred to your lexical thoughts as a 'mal de mer' of a lesser-mind that is controlled by stress and truama.Any way,permit me to also say well-done for you studying the various keys on the keyboard.Am happy now that I don't have to read through your posts again like a running from Harper to Plebo.This change have given me the courage to find pleasure in reading your posts from now on.You remind me of a Sierra Leonean brother,richerson88 on this site,who developed the concept of "Soupism".We met on this site with heated posts at eachother.At the end of the day,I raised my flag above his own and our posts were on the good side against those advocates of bandict Taylor.
See All Comments