Liberian President Charles Taylor expects to be shielded from prosecution for war crimes once he is in exile in Nigeria, his spokesperson said Tuesday.
”We’ve no doubt in the words of [Nigerian] President [Olusegun] Obasanjo when he said he would not allow anybody or any instrument of international law to harass Nigeria over the president’s stay over there,” Taylor’s spokesperson Vaanii Paasewe said.
Responding to US calls for Taylor to face charges stemming from his role in Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war, which ended in 2001, Paasewe said the United Nation’s-backed Special Court trying war crimes in Sierra Leone does not have jurisdiction over Liberia.
The Liberian government filed injunctions to that effect before the International Court of Justice in The Hague and in Freetown on Monday, he said.
Paasewe confirmed that Taylor plans to leave Liberia, where west African peacekeepers began deploying on Monday. ”There’s no doubt that we have accepted the invitation to go into Nigeria. There’s no question about him leaving the country.”
But he added: ”We’re not going to be precise about the date for security reasons,” implying that while Taylor may leave office on Monday as promised, he may not leave the country the same day.
Taylor said on Saturday he would step down on August 11, and has repeatedly said he would leave once peacekeepers are in place.
South African President Thabo Mbeki said in Pretoria on Tuesday that Taylor would hand over power to Vice President Moses Blah.
”The vice president will form a government of national unity and he [Taylor] will leave after the installation of the vice president as president,” Mbeki told reporters, adding: ”He will do this as soon as possible — either the same day or the day after — to go to Nigeria.” – Sapa-AFP