Mail & Guardian reporter
Liberian President Charles Taylor is suing the London Times for quoting a book accusing him of being a cannibal.
The book, The Mask of Anarchy by Oxford- educated scholar Stephen Ellis, accuses Taylor of “indulging in human sacrifice and the ritualistic consumption of human body parts”. The Times article, which appeared on its foreign pages on November 2 1999, also mentioned “reports and rumours of Mr Taylor’s alleged cannibalism, including drinking the blood of his murdered rivals”.
Taylor’s writ also highlights the claims in the article that “specific individuals were selected for human sacrifice and consumption, a practice believed by some Liberians to confer power on the participants. Many of these bloody rituals were allegedly carried out in Charles Taylor’s house.”
The Mask of Anarchy has been praised elsewhere for its balanced approach. On December 26 the Sunday Telegraph also ran a piece about the book. It was clearly labelled as a review. The reviewer wrote: “In the course of the [Liberian civil] war, children were turned into psychopathic fighters and cannibalism was rampant. Mr Ellis deals with this most sensational aspect of the conflict without titillating the reader. He argues that human sacrifice and cannibalism had long been a part of Liberian ritual practice, but under the control of traditional spiritual leaders, who limited it to special occasions. The authority of these spiritual leaders was destroyed during the war, and so cannibalism broke its traditional bounds. Young fighters, high on drugs and alcohol, tried to assimilate the power of the slain by eating parts of them.”
It seems because there was no specific mention of Taylor in the Sunday Telegraph account, its reviewer has been spared a writ. It is one thing to mention cannibalism generally and quite another to allege that it actually took place in the president’s house.
The Times has stated it intends to contest the action vigorously. But British libel law does not favour defendants and substantiating claims based on allegations made in a book will not be easy. In Liberia, it is accepted that various factions engaged in atrocities during the civil war. That does not mean The Times will be able to prove that the current president presided over human sacrifice in his own house. On the other hand, Taylor is unlikely to want to take the stand in a London court to prove that he has a reputation to protect.