A judge from the tiny Samoan archipelago made history by declaring that Charles Taylor, the deposed president of the West African state of Liberia was guilty of "aiding and abetting" the multiple atrocities committed by a rebel force in neighbouring Sierra Leone - nine years after being indicted by a United Nations Special Court. - The judges unanimously ruled that Mr Taylor knowingly assisted the commission of these crimes by providing a continuous flow of arms, ammunitions, logistical and other forms of support to the main rebel group (Revolutionary United Front) in exchange for diamonds. The six-year trial heard harrowing stories of how Taylor’s forces unleashed a maels…

While the Arab spring may be moving to another season altogether - which Syria's Bashar El Assad slaughtering his own people in plain view of the Arab League 'observers', and Tahrir Square in Cairo becoming the epicentre of the uprising against embattled generals - the point remains that Sub-Saharan Africa deserves a prolonged encounter with the sort of extreme make-over politics that has upended long-term tyrannies in the Arab world. - There are plenty of entrenched presidents in Africa that could give good impersonation of recently deposed Arab tyrants. The sit-tight syndrome of African leaders When Abdoulaye Wade was elected in office in 2000, Senegal received applaus…