Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Freetown (Fides Service)- “There has been little reaction to the fact that Charles Taylor has come back to the country to be tried by an international court. I think most people are indifferent to the news of his arrest” says Italian Xaverian missionary Giuseppe Berton in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone after the arrival yesterday 29 March of extradited former Liberian president Charles Taylor accused of fomenting a bloody civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002).
“People have other things on their mind” says Fr Giuseppe. “Most families are concerned with how to provide the day’s midday and evening meal and still find the money to send the children to school. In these conditions Taylor’s arrest has little impact on everyday life”.
“Certainly Taylor must answer for the crimes committed” the missionary continued. “I hope the international penal court will be impartial and set an example of ordinary justice. In fact popular indifference is due also to the people’s experience of justice: a man who can afford a good lawyer goes free: whereas the poor man is convicted”.
“While not undermining the importance of Taylor’s arrest I would ask the international community to help Sierra Leone get on its feet, offer a future to its people and their children. We should do more than merely condemn the past, we must look to the tomorrow of this country” the missionary concludes.
Taylor, who had been living in Nigeria since August 2003, disappeared last Monday 27 March just as he was about to be transferred to Liberia and from there to Sierra Leone. The former Liberian strong man was arrested at dawn yesterday in the north eastern Nigerian state of Borno which borders on Cameroon 1,500 km from Calabar where he resided until his disappearance three days ago. The former “warlord” with a US degree in economy, was travelling with a woman and a boy in an off-road vehicle with a CD registration number and carrying a large sum of money in dollars. After his arrest the 58 year old former president was escorted to a military camp at Maiduguri capital of the state of Borno and then to the local airport where the Nigerian presidential aircraft was waiting for him. On his arrival in Monrovia capital of Liberia Taylor was taken into custody by the UN peacekeepers UNMIL, embarked on a UN helicopter and flown to Freetown.
Taylor is accused of supporting in Sierra Leone Foday Sankoh’s bloodthirsty RUF Revolutionary United Front rebel group and its sadly famous child-soldiers, in exchange for diamonds from northern mines. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 30/3/2006 righe 39 parole 494)
