Taylor in the dock

The Hague, Netherlands

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor this week was charged with war crimes at the international court in The Hague. Taylor, blamed for a series of civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone that killed about 400,000 people, stepped down as Liberian leader in 2003, in a U.S.-brokered deal that gave him exile in Nigeria. He was arrested when trying to flee from Nigeria this spring. Taylor is accused of sponsoring rebel groups that killed and mutilated villagers and conscripted child soldiers to fight in Sierra Leone, in exchange for a cut of that country’s diamond trade. The rebels were notorious for hacking off limbs and ears. The trial is expected to shed light on the role of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in helping Taylor destabilize West Africa.

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