Nigeria to Hand Over Liberian Ex-Leader

The Nigerian government said Saturday that it was ready to return exiled former Liberian President Charles Taylor to his homeland, which would clear the way for him to be tried for crimes against humanity.

Taylor is accused of starting a civil war in his country that brutalized tens of thousands of boys and girls drafted as rebel fighters. He also is blamed for a savage war in neighboring Sierra Leone where rebels, including child fighters, terrorized victims by chopping off body parts.

An international tribunal indictment says Taylor is criminally responsible for the destruction of Liberia and Sierra Leone and for the murder, rape, maiming and mutilation of more than a half million Sierra Leoneans. An additional 2.5 million people were forced to flee their homes.

Each of the 17 charges he faces in the indictment carries a sentence of life in prison.

Taylor is also accused of harboring Al Qaeda suicide bombers who attacked U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

The former Liberian leader has been in exile in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar since being forced from power under a 2003 accord that ended a rebel assault on Liberia’s capital. Nigeria had resisted extraditing Taylor, arguing that he had been given refuge under the internationally brokered peace deal.

But in a statement, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said he had told Liberia that “the government of Liberia is free to take former President Charles Taylor into its custody.”

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made a formal request to Nigeria after an official visit to Washington, the source of aid needed to rebuild Liberia.

There was speculation Taylor would be sent directly to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone rather than Liberia, because of concerns that his presence could destabilize the country as it tries to recover from 14 years of war.

Liberia had no immediate comment, and neither Taylor nor his spokesman could be reached for comment.