LIBERIA:Liberia's former president, Charles Taylor, failed to appear at the opening of his trial for war crimes in The Hague yesterday, with his English lawyer walking out of the court after a furious row with the presiding judge.
The prolonged disruption, coupled with embarrassing procedural confusions, delayed the first ever trial of a former African head of state for crimes against humanity.
During the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone, between 1996 and 2002, it is alleged that Mr Taylor supported the main rebel group there, the Revolutionary United Front, in order to exploit the country's resources, especially diamonds, which were used to buy guns and ammunition. He is accused of having directed child soldiers, fuelled with drugs and alcohol, to kill their parents in a conflict that saw tens of thousands of murders, mutilations and rapes.
Mr Taylor's counsel, Karim Khan, who was repeatedly threatened with contempt by Justice Julia Sebutinde, said he had been sacked because his client had lost confidence in the ability of the UN-backed court to give him a fair trial. The former warlord remained in his cell at the Scheveningen high security prison, 20 minutes away, where he has been held for the past year.
In a letter read out by Mr Khan, Mr Taylor said he recognised the court but - in an echo of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who frustrated the efforts of war crimes prosecutors for more than four years - wanted to represent himself.
The judge repeatedly interrupted Mr Khan's reading of the letter, saying: "We are not interested in political speeches." She directed Mr Khan to continue to represent Mr Taylor: "You don't just get up and waltz out of here. Sanity will return to this court," she said. Mr Khan replied: "I must, and I do, apologise." At the end of the day, however, the judge conceded that Mr Taylor's legal team had not been given proper facilities, and that the blame for any delay lay with the court administration.
Setting out the broad charges against the former president, the chief prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, said the war in Sierra Leone was one of the "ugliest in living memory - the very worst of what human beings are capable to do to one another". Mr Taylor had engaged in a joint criminal plan to terrorise the people of Sierra Leone and bring death and destruction to that country. With an inner circle of colleagues, his forces had forced women and girls to be sex slaves, pressed captured villagers into forced labour, recruited and corrupted children and looted and destroyed property.
But the most horrifying charges were the mutilations. The court was told that the Taylor-backed forces would attack villages and kill at random. Then "the attackers would mutilate - amputating arms, limbs, gouging eyes - with children conscripted by the attackers killing their own parents", he said.
Giving more detail, prosecuting attorney Muhammad Bangula told the court that hundreds of boys and girls were abducted as child soldiers after raids on their villages. They were taken to training camps where the conditions were "harsh beyond measure". The children would be made to crawl on the ground while live bullets flew over their heads. Those that survived were given military ranks, organised into the Small Boys' Units and the Small Girls' Unit, and sent into battle.
Mr Taylor does not deny that these events took place, but argues that he was not responsible for them and did not order others to carry them out. But several of his closest associates are due to give evidence against him in return for immunity.
He has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted. The UK has offered to jail him if he is found guilty. This was part of the complex diplomatic efforts to move the trial to The Hague as it was felt that a trial in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, could destabilise the region.
The next hearing is due on June 25th, with evidence from the first of more than 130 witnesses. The trial is expected to last up to 18 months. - (Guardian service)