Citing reasons of security and expediency, the Security Council
Friday paved the way for the transfer of former Liberian President
and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor to The Hague, Netherlands
from Sierra Leone.
The 15-nation council unanimously adopted a Britain-drafted
resolution requesting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan "to assist,
as a matter of priority, in the conclusion of all necessary legal
and practical arrangements," for Taylor's transfer.
Taylor is now awaiting trial under the auspices of the UN-backed
Special Court of Sierra Leone on charges related to his role in
that country's bloody civil war.
The resolution said that the ex-Liberian leader's continued
presence in the West African region "is an impediment to stability
and a threat to the peace of Liberia and of Sierra Leone" and that
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was already
too busy to handle the case.
Therefore, the council decided that the Special Court would
retain "exclusive jurisdiction over former President Taylor during
his transfer to and presence in the Netherlands."
The Netherlands is willing to host the Special Court for the
trial, the council noted in its text, and the International
Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, is willing to allow the
use of its premises for the detention of Taylor and the trial
proceedings.
Taylor faces an 11-count indictment for crimes against humanity,
and other serious violations of international humanitarian law,
including sexual slavery and mutilations allegedly committed during
Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war.
The Special Court, as well as newly-elected Liberian President
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, have feared that Taylor's presence in the
countries where he allegedly fomented uprisings during the 1990s
could shatter the fragile peace that was taking hold in the
long-troubled West African region.
Shortly after Taylor's arrest, the Netherlands expressed its
willingness to host the Special Court, and just Thursday, the
British government said Taylor could serve his prison sentence in
Britain if he was convicted.
(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2006)
