15 June 2006
The British government has agreed that former Liberian leader Charles Taylor could serve a prison sentence in the UK, if he is convicted of war crimes.
This paves the way for his trial to start in The Hague, after other European countries refused to host him.
A UN-backed tribunal in Sierra Leone, where he is in prison, wants the trial to be moved due to security fears.
Mr Taylor faces 11 war crimes charges after allegedly backing rebels in the decade-long Sierra Leone civil war.
"I was delighted to be able to respond positively to the request of the United Nations Secretary General, that, should he be convicted, Charles Taylor serve his sentence in the UK," British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5082664.stmGood news. Taylor will soon be on his way to the Hague where he belongs. I wonder what Pat Robertson has to say about his good christian buddy now?
November 30, 2001
<snip>
I have never visited Liberia or met President Taylor. I have no knowledge of the activities in Liberia during its bitter civil war. I do know, however, that Freedom Gold has hired 130 Liberians and is assisting Liberians in gaining a better life. It is in touch with citizens, government officials, Christian pastors and others inside and outside Liberia. Freedom Gold has found freedom of religion, freedom of movement, freedom of expression and what appears to be a judiciary dedicated to the rule of law.
The Post has joined with those who wish to topple the duly elected government of Liberia. But I have yet to hear any proposal from the United Nations, from the State Department or from The Post as to what should be done with Liberia if the government falls.
In 1996 the Clinton administration and The Post called for the downfall of President Mobutu of Zaire. His fall brought in a Marxist butcher, Laurent Kabila, as president, and the resulting civil war that has left an estimated 2 million people dead.
Doesn't Mr. King believe that a government collapse would lead to another blood bath in Christian Liberia, which was founded by President James Monroe as a haven for freed American slaves and whose first president was a Baptist pastor from Virginia?
PAT ROBERTSON
Virginia Beach
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A36685-2001Nov29¬Found=trueWell I guess things didn't turn out so bad after all, at least not for the people of Liberia. Now that gold mine deal, that's another story.
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