Former Liberian President worked for the CIA: report
Source: ca.news.yahoo.com
Liberia’s Charles Taylor, the first African head of state to be prosecuted for war crimes by an international tribunal, used to work for the CIA, the Boston Globe newspaper reported this week.The report, based on information uncovered through a freedom of information request made six years ago, said that Taylor had a relationship with the US spy agency for years, although the details of what he actually did were unclear.
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor (R) sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in 2008. The Boston Globe reported this week that he worked for the CIA. (AFP Photo/Michael Kooren)
"The Pentagon’s response to the Globe states that the details of Taylor’s role on behalf of the spy agencies are contained in dozens of secret reports -- at least 48 separate documents -- covering several decades. However, the exact duration and scope of the relationship remains hidden," the daily said.
The former Liberian president is awaiting the verdict in his war crimes trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Netherlands.
He is accused on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity on claims that he armed Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in exchange for illegally mined, so-called "blood diamonds."
The Sierra Leone civil war claimed some 120,000 lives in the 10 years to 2001, with RUF rebels, described by the prosecution as Taylor’s "surrogate army," mutilating thousands of civilians by hacking off their limbs.
Taylor pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Boston Globe report backed up long-standing rumors of Taylor’s work with the Central Intelligence Agency.
According to the report, he started working with the agency in the early 1980s. After he was indicted and left the presidency in 2003, he lived openly in Nigeria, which the United States considers a regional ally. He was finally handed over to the international court in 2006.
Article from: ca.news.yahoo.com
The 62-year-old has been charged with a gruesome list of acts allegedly ordered during Sierra Leone’s 1991-2001 civil war, one of the most brutal in modern history.
Testifying at the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone in July 2009, he called the 11 charges of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers, enslavement and pillaging against him "lies".
"This whole case is a case of deceit, deception, lies," Taylor said. "I am not guilty of all of these charges, not even a minute part of the charges."
The trial tops a life marked by deep involvement in conflicts that blighted several African countries, driven according to prosecutor Brenda Hollis by Taylor’s "greed and lust for power".
He is widely seen as the most powerful figure behind a series of civil conflicts in Liberia and its eastern neighbour Sierra Leone, between 1989 and 2003, which left some 400,000 people dead.
Source, Feb. 2011
Liberian Flag. The flag bears close resemblance to the flag of the United States, showing the ex-American slave origins of the country. It was adopted on July 26, 1847 (Wikipedia)
