Former Liberian president and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor was on Wednesday evening finally transferred to the UN-backed special court in Sierra Leoneto face trial, after his three-year exile in Nigeria, sudden disappearance, dramatic arrest and a short stay at his homeland.

"Today is a momentous occasion and an important day for international justice, the international community and, above all, the people of Sierra Leone," said the prosecutor of the special court, Desmond de Silva, in a statement.

"His presence in the custody of the Special Court sends out the clear message that no matter how rich, powerful or feared people may be - the law is above them."

Taylor has been living in the southeastern Nigerian coastal city of Calabar since August 2003 but disappeared on Monday night, about 48 hours after Nigeria, under the pressure of the US government, announced that "Liberia is free to take former president Charles Taylor into its custody."

Many suspect Taylor might have escaped by boat, but it's in Gamboru Ngala, a Nigerian-Cameroonian border town, that he was discovered by Nigerians immigration and custom officials.

"He (Taylor) was found (at about 06:00 GMT) on a Land Rover, ashen color, jeep with a man (driver) and a woman. He was arrested and sent to the state capital Maiduguri," Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi told Xinhua.

The official News Agency of Nigeria quoted Malam Mohammed Bello, a controller of immigration in Borno, as saying that the woman was his wife and Taylor was intercepted while driving the diplomatic jeep with "Ambassador" on its plate number.

"A convoy was escorting the former warlord when they were intercepted, but that the escort escaped arrest, leaving Taylor and his wife," Bello added.

Witnesses told Xinhua that Taylor, accompanied by a dozens of soldiers and clad in a white traditional flowing gown called Agbada, boarded a Nigerian presidential jet which left for Monrovia from Maiduguri airport at exactly 1:30 PM (12:30 GMT).

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who met US President George W. Bush in Washington early in the day, said in a statement that the capture of Charles Taylor had "vindicated" the position of the Nigerian government.

"Those who said Nigeria may have helped Taylor escape are wrong and should apologize. Mr. Taylor is neither a friend of the President of Nigeria nor that of its people," he added.

Taylor had been seen as the main obstacle to peace in Liberia and a destabilizing agent within the region, allegedly extending his destabilizing drive to neighboring Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, claiming more than 200,000 lives.

But it is his support to the RUF rebel group against the Sierra Leonean government in return for "bloody diamonds" that has cost him his indictment on 17-count charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The prosecutor, Silva, said a judge of the court had amended the indictment against Taylor, under which he is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity to "ensure a more focused trial."

Just before Taylor stepped on a plane to take him to Calabar in August 2003, he told Liberians: "If God's willing, I will be back." But his returned home may not have been what he may have expected when he left for exile.

Upon his arrival back home on Wednesday evening, UN peacekeepers picked him up in handcuff at the Monrovia's Roberts International Airport from a Nigerian presidential aircraft and transferred to Sierra Leone, where the court has a cell waiting for him.

Liberian government and UN officials were tight-lipped on the transfer. Liberia's new leader, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was scheduled to have addressed the nation Wednesday at 10:00 GMT, but her address was rescheduled twice during the day and put back to 18:00 GMT. But by 17:00 GMT her address was called off with no reason given.

Explaining reason for the twice rescheduling of Johnson-Sirleaf's nationwide address, a presidential source who did not want to be identified told Xinhua that "the president want to have the Taylor's transfer issue settled and put behind her once and for all."

"The president does not want to address the nation prior to Taylor's transfer to avoid unforeseen embarrassment should the unexpected happen surrounding Taylor," the source added.

The cancellation of the Johnson-Sirleaf address was viewed as a decision to avoid infuriating individuals believed to Taylor's loyalists.

Monrovia was relatively calm as many persons gathered around transistor radios during the day to listen to news as Taylor's arrest and transfer filtered in. Commuters also went about their normal businesses.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2006)