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Yes,
Charles Taylor is a priority
Monday,
February 06, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
I
just can’t wait to see Charles Taylor arrested, put
on trial and jailed (if he’s found guilty by his
peers, of course), for the heinous crimes he committed
against humanity when he was president of Liberia.
This is not the official policy of the
government of Liberia, but the opinion of just one
Liberian, me, a guy who wants justice done to ease the
hurt a whole lot of people are feeling today, and to
perhaps put to rest the Charles Taylor matter so that
Liberians will be able to move on to other things.
Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Charles M. Taylor
However, it seems as if the charming and
elusive Taylor is never, ever going to be put on trial
to either be found guilty and jailed or to be put on
trial, acquitted and be set free at last since his
powerful local and international political allies are
not willing to turn him over to the appropriate
authorities to face war crimes charges against
humanity.
And as long as he’s not in Liberia stirring
up all things political by using his influence to
organize another deadly “Octopus” rebel war,
everything is fine as far as they are concerned.
And whenever there are whispers that he is
interfering in Liberian politics by remote control
from his hideout in Calabar, all we get are the
politically correct threats for his imminent arrest
from the George W. Bush administration in Washington
DC, and warnings from his host, the Nigerian president
Olusegun Obasanjo that he should desist or else …
The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took
another direction in the Taylor saga when she
confirmed our fears during a recent Star Radio
interview when she was quoted as saying that the
“Charles Taylor issue is finished,” and the
“Liberian people should concentrate on maintaining
democracy in the country.”
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf joined the
chorus and said this during her first press conference
about the whole issue: Charles Taylor is “secondary
to her agenda,” she pointedly said.
Since president Sirleaf did not bite her tongue
during that press conference, she will not bite her
tongue in the future because that’s vintage Ellen;
and for an issue of this magnitude to be addressed in
such a trifling manner shows the degree of importance
it is to a president who has been dogged over and
over, and throughout the campaign by allegations that
she made Taylor.
We want democracy in Liberia, and we will
surely enjoy the little that we have right now.
However, isn’t it another aspect of democracy when
oppressed people asked that their tormentor be brought
to justice for his crimes against them?
Isn’t it hypocritical for Ms. Rice to tell
the Liberian people to just concentrate on maintaining
their democracy when in fact she and her
administration are pushing for democracy in Iraq,
while they put the former dictator, Saddam Hussein on
trial for his alleged crimes against the Kurdish
people, the people of Iraq and humanity?
Did the Secretary of State tell the US-backed
Iraqi government to concentrate on their democracy and
leave Saddam alone? So why is the chief foreign policy
official in the Bush administration is saying one thing
about Liberia then doing something else in another country
with similar problem?
How is it going to benefit Ellen if she puts
Taylor on trial? The president is not a fool to open a
can of worm that will surely destroy her politically
and tarnish her image, if that’s not the case
already with some Liberians.
Because a desperate Charles Taylor who could be
facing a possible life sentence in a prison somewhere,
or who could be executed if found guilty will not go
down easily.
And like a wounded animal fighting for his or
her life, a wounded Taylor might attempt to implicate
Ellen and other high profile individuals in their
illegal war for power and profits. That’s perhaps
the big dirty secret I don’t think they want us to
hear.
By heeding to the call to put Charles Taylor on
trial, Ms. Sirleaf would play into the hands of her
detractors, and certainly would give legitimacy to the
detailed and damaging accounts of Jucontee Tom
Woewiyu’s chilling revelations about her hands-on
involvement and the funding of a civil war that almost
derailed her presidential bid.
So who get to make the call to arrest and
put Charles Taylor on trial for his crimes against
humanity?
Does a president who dodges the issue because
of the political damage it could possibly cost her;
the United States, whose response has always been
questionable and reactionary, Mr. Obasanjo, who does
not want to upset the despotic precedent of
maintaining the status quo in Africa, and seemed to be
protecting other African leaders who could also be
indicted, arrested and jailed for their own crimes
against humanity, or the Liberian people and the
people of Sierra Leone who are victims of this
savagery?
It is frustrating when the person who killed
your people, destroyed your country, despitefully used
you and your people cannot face justice.
It is equally upsetting when the same person
cannot face justice but is living luxuriously in
another country, while those that never wore or walked
in their painful shoes make the decisions that define
their destiny.
Oh yes, it is painful when you see your feeble
brothers and sisters – an entire generation of
Liberians walking around illiterate, hungry and
orphaned because of the selfishness of the idiot who
couldn’t be president under normal conditions.
Like the people of Iraq, some of whom lived to
see a trial of their tormentor in their country, the
Liberian people and the people of Sierra Leone, are
also awaiting the day they will get to see Charles
Taylor put on trial in a court of law in their
respective countries.
The Taylor issue is too painful and combustible
to go away. He must be brought to justice because it
is a priority. The Liberian people should be given the
chance to decide this one, Madame president. Not you,
the United States or any foreign power.
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