|
BNW |
|
B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Taylor may go on trial in democratic Liberia
NIGERIA will be ready to release former Liberian President Charles Taylor to the United Nations (UN) War Crimes Tribunal anytime a democratically elected government of Liberia makes such a request to the Federal Government.
This disclosure was made last week by Nigeria's Permanent Representative at the UN, Ambassador Aminu Wali, in an interview with The Guardian.
Wali observed that Nigeria accepted to take in Tayor on asylum with the full knowledge of the international community, stressing that this was "agreed to by all." He said that Nigeria offered the asylum as that was seen as the only solution then.
This decision, has however, not gone down well with many Nigerians, some of who have gone to court to challenge Taylor's stay in the country.
Said the envoy: "From our own perspective, when there is democracy in Liberia, Nigeria will handover Taylor to an elected government of Liberia. Nigeria got him out and it is only Liberia that can demand him - a democratically elected government of Liberia, which is yet to happen."
The current government of Liberia is a transitional government which was not elected but appointed to steer the country away from the chaos that compelled the exit of Taylor. The United Nations Tribunal in Sierra Leone and the United States (U.S.) government have since demanded that Nigeria should handover Taylor to the tribunal so that the former Liberian president and a past warlord can answer charges of war crimes pending against him. Some have even linked Taylor with the Al Qaida and terrorist group, in the ensuing effort to get him to pay for his several alleged human right violations while he was a warlord and president of Liberia.
Nigeria got support both from the UN and U.S. when it offered to take Taylor in at a time the threat of another long-drawn civil war was already hung over Liberia. Rebels were already eating away at the country. But once Tayor was removed a modicum of stability was restored and a transitional government was put in place in Liberia. Since then clamour for the handover of Taylor both from the U.S. and the UN has been consistent.
Also commenting on the handover of Bakassi, Wali told The Guardian that the UN system is consistent with the resolution of the Nigeria-Cameroun dispute and is now promoting the process as a model for conflict resolution. He said the UN's Peacekeeping Department is also understudying Nigeria and ECOWAS model of ECOMOG as a model for peacekeeping operations due to its relative success in bringing to an end some security conflicts in the sub-region.
According to Wali, who has spent only a few months so far on the job, the task at the UN is a very challenging one. "One has to always be on his toes every second of the day," he noted. He said UN dynamics changes so often with several issues and debates coming up all at the same time at different levels and committees." But he stated that "I am determined to make my own contribution to my country and our continent."
The Permanent Representative said Nigeria and his focus at the UN now, is on developmental issues, especially economic concerns including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Monterrey Declaration and others that have to do with building capacity bases for developing countries.
Wali who was the former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on the National Assembly also weighed in on the current fued between the Senate and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufai. According to him, the Senate could summon El-Rufai to demand an explanation, but should not threaten to abandon their own responsibilities because of what El-Rufai said. He was of the opinion that what the FCT Minister said was unfortunate but urged the Senators as responsible people to just ignore the remarks.
|
|
||||||||||||
