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Arrested
at last!
Friday,
March 31, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
Charles
McArthur "Ghankay" Taylor embarrassed his
host and himself when he reportedly fled from his
Calabar, Nigeria villa on March 27; enroute to the
place only Taylor believed he could hide from those
who want to prosecute him for war crimes.
Of course, he miscalculated his get away act
when he fled, and showed his trademark reckless
disregard of the rule of law that got him in the mess
he’s in today, and displayed the arrogance he’s
noted for when he served as president of war-torn
Liberia years ago.
And when the escape drama finally ended on
Wednesday, Mr. Taylor was arrested, given a bullet
proof vest, handcuffed and led away by throngs of UN
peacekeeping troops to a temporary jail somewhere
until all the legal and diplomatic hurdles are cleared
for his trial to begin perhaps at the International
Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague.
Charles Taylor (center) in handcuffs
(BBC)
But before Charles Taylor was finally
apprehended along the Nigerian/Cameroonian border on
March 29, his flight from justice became an
international scandal as people everywhere began to
indict the Nigerian government about its poor handling of
the whole Taylor issue and its role (if any) in his runaway
act.
I faulted the Nigerian government also
because I believed now and then that the government
showed incompetence, and violated every rule relating
to the protection and handling of an indicted
criminal.
The Nigerian government was relaxed, did not
take the matter seriously and failed miserably by not
providing round-the-clock security to guide Taylor
from either committing suicide or from escaping. Of
course, he did the latter.
And after realizing the blunder they created,
and the embarrassment Charles Taylor caused them at
home and abroad, they government acted quickly by
providing all available resources to hunt down the guy
who they once kept from prosecution.
Luckily, an alert security personnel was able
to recognize and arrest the fugitive former president
and brought the manhunt to an end.
Charles Taylor has always been a polarizing
figure throughout his entire life. His arrest
polarized the Liberian nation and Liberian communities
around the world, and fueled an endless debate about
whether to prosecute him, or not to prosecute him for
war crimes against humanity, which played heavily
among pro-Taylor and anti-Taylor elements who are
passionate about his fate.
The families of the victims whose lives were
tragically cut short by Charles Taylor’s reckless
adventurism got the last laughs, while some of his
supporters frustratingly resorted to intimidation and
vile threat against the government to prevent his
extradition.
Charles Taylor’s the black sheep in our
family, or I will say in our country. He’s like the
son, brother, uncle or father one wants to love, but
hate to love because of his embarrassingly shady
lifestyle and shameful ways.
Mr. Taylor did not only embarrassed his
Nigerian host, he also embarrassed us, the Liberian
people, and muddled our good name by his selfish and
wicked actions when he destroyed our country, pillaged
our natural resources, depleted our national coffers,
and helped to suffer and killed our people - over
200,000 innocent Liberians by declaring war on them
and his nation.
His reckless and treasonous adventure extended
beyond the boundaries of Liberia. He fomented
rebellion in sovereign nations – Guinea, Ivory Coast
and Sierra Leone and attacked their interests
mercilessly.
He and his surrogates raped, maimed and killed
innocent men, women and children in Sierra Leone
during a war whose reason for being only Taylor
understands.
Up to this day, Taylor hasn’t issued an
apology to the citizens of any of the nations he
destroyed, and never one day issued an apology to the
relatives of the deceased.
So why would anyone think this maniac is a
victim? Charles Taylor’s far from being a victim but
continued to play the victim card as if he’s
actually one.
Mr. Taylor’s not a victim because before his
arrest, however, he lived luxuriously in a guarded
villa in Calabar, Nigeria and ate sumptuous meals
daily, while the citizens he left behind helpless and
broke; and whose lives he completely shattered during
his reign of terror beg for food daily, and scrambled
for rationed buckwheat and sugar just to live one day
at a time.
His victims never lived another day to
share the new Liberia with their friends and loved
ones.
I personally have no compassion for Charles
Taylor. I think he should rot wherever he’s placed,
and be ready to suffer the consequences of his crimes.
This will indeed send a clear message to the
killers and other war criminals sitting in Liberia and
other parts of the world.
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