Moving Taylor could take weeks

By Nick Tattersall

FREETOWN (Reuters) – Moving Africa’s most notorious war
crimes suspect, Charles Taylor, from Sierra Leone to stand
trial in The Hague is likely to take several weeks at least,
court officials and diplomats say.

The former Liberian President is due to appear in Sierra
Leone’s U.N.-backed Special Court on Monday, when he is
expected to plead not guilty to 11 indictments for atrocities
committed during the former British colony’s 1991-2002 civil
war.

But fears the former warlord’s presence could undermine
stability in the volatile West African region where he still
has pockets of support have led the court to ask the
Netherlands if it could host the main body of the trial in The
Hague.

“Sierra Leone has gone through a very nasty war, Liberia
has gone through an equally nasty war. Guinea has problems,
Ivory Coast has some problems,” Sierra Leone’s Information
Minister, Septimus Kaikai, told Reuters.

“The trauma that people went through in this country, they
are still going through, both psychological and otherwise. If
there is the perception that there is a slight possibility that
that might take place again, prevention is better than cure.”

The U.N. Security Council is expected to adopt a British
drafted resolution next week approving the transfer.

But other conditions, including separate agreements with
the Dutch government, may take longer.

“The Dutch have got certain requirements and we need to
fulfil those requirements. These are ongoing negotiations with
the government of the Netherlands,” the court’s chief
prosecutor, Desmond de Silva, told Reuters on Sunday.

TIGHT SECURITY

Moving Taylor’s trial to The Hague is likely to be
expensive and complicated for the Special Court, which was
originally set up in Sierra Leone on the request of the
government.

The prosecution would have to decide whether to fly
witnesses to Europe, many of them villagers who have never even
visited the capital and who would need interpreters to
translate from at least six local languages, court officials
said.

Many Sierra Leoneans were overjoyed when Taylor was flown
into the court on Wednesday after almost three years exile in
Calabar, Nigeria. He was arrested trying to escape to Cameroon.

But they also want Taylor to leave soon, fearing his
presence could cause unrest here or in Liberia, where some
supporters have threatened violence if he is tried.

“They may be disappointed that this man whom they very much
want to see tried may not be tried in their midst, but I think
the people of Sierra Leone will be very anxious to ensure there
isn’t any more bloodshed,” de Silva said.

Armed police patrol the court’s barbed wire fence and a
U.N. rapid reaction force of Irish and Swedish soldiers is on
standby to back up the Mongolian U.N. force guarding the court.

Diplomats say that should guarantee security for now, but
they say the risk becomes higher the longer Taylor remains.

“The problem with Freetown is that it sits in a region with
porous borders. It would be easy for his sympathizers to get in
and they would be hard to track down,” a senior diplomat said.

“The biggest fear in the region is a short, sharp operation
to spring him. If he came in by helicopter, he can get out
again by helicopter.”