Charles Taylor confesses

  1. Posted on Thursday 5 November 2009 - 11:03
    Kemo
    Image of Kemo
    Kemo Cham, AfricaNews reporter in Dakar, Senegal
    The former Liberian leader, Charles Taylor, has confessed to sending armed men to fight during the civil war in Sierra Leone. The UN Special Court reported: "In a surprising move, Charles Taylor reinforced the truthfulness of his former vice president's testimony against him earlier in the trial."
    ex liberian president
    The UN-backed court for Sierra Leone in The Hague quoted him to have said: “To a great extent, Moses Blah (Taylor’s former Vice President) told the court the truth.”

    Taylor’s statement was in response to evidence earlier provided by prosecution witnesses, attempting to dispute their claims that he provided support for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in Sierra Leone after November 1996.

    Former Liberian vice president, Moses Blah, in May 2008, testified for the prosecution against his former boss, giving accounts of the activities of Taylor from when they were together in the late 1980s in Libya, planning to invade Liberia, up to 2003, when he (Blah), took over from his former boss as part of an agreed asylum pact brokered by leaders of the African Union.

    “There were three areas where unfortunately, he (Blah) was wrong,” Taylor was quoted as saying adding that “90-95 per cent of what he (Blah) said is true.”

    Taylor also concurred with his former vice president’s testimony that as vice president, Blah had no idea that arms and ammunition were been transported from Liberia to Sierra Leone for use by RUF rebels.

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