Aakash Kurse


Word Count: 582

Liberian President Charles Taylor Found Guilty of War Crimes

Guilty of funding an extremely bloody decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone during his presidency, Charles Taylor has been sentenced to a 50 year prison term.

Charles Taylor, a revolutionary and a warlord has been convicted and sentenced for 50 years in prison because of war crimes during his presidency. He was accused of funding a violent extremist group known and the Revolutionary United Front, a faction that was against the government in Sierra Leone. This group killed 400,000 people during the course of the Sierra Leone civil war and was responsible for using blood diamonds to get weapons and ammunition. He also was responsible for conscripting children into his army.

During the course of Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war Charles Taylor, the President of neighboring Liberia has been accused and convicted of funding the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a malevolent faction during the civil war. In addition to his supporting the RUF, he gave them weapons and ammunition in return blood diamonds (diamonds illegally mined during wartime). He was also partially responsible for the deaths 400,000 people in Sierra Leone. The RUF was one of the factions present and fighting in Sierra Leone ‘s bloody civil war. This faction was responsible for the deaths of many and also was known raping and hacking limbs off of children, and the elderly. Charles Taylor was only jailed and convicted for his crimes in Sierra Leone, this lead to some outrage from Liberians who had firsthand experience of the NPFL’s (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) cruelty. While Charles Taylor was still a rebel against his government his men were accused of raping children and pillaging his own people.According the Mrs.Rarick this is an “atrocity” and the conscription of children is a “sickening act”..

When Taylor’s sentence had been declared some of the Liberians who had served under Taylor during Liberia’s civil war were humiliated that their leader would be sent to prison His name has also been spit on by some of his own people due to the crimes he committed in his attempt to gain power in his own country. During his revolution against the Liberian dictator Samuel Doe, Taylor the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) an anti-government faction, one known for its extreme violence became one of the first African militant groups to press children at the age of 10 into frontline service. Although Taylor was elected president by his war-weary people in 1997, his election did nothing to stop the suffering or violent aftershocks suffered by the 3.3 million he was responsible for.

Two years after his election another civil conflict broke out, this time against Taylor’s leadership. The rebels ended up winning the conflict when Taylor fled to Nigeria in 2003. The Nigerians turned in Taylor in 2006 after requests from the UN. During his trial in The Hague Taylor was accused of 11 war crimes involving rape, murder, conscripting child soldiers, enslavement and pillaging. He denied all the crimes he was accused of committing. He was convicted of his crimes and sentenced to 50 years in prison. For some however, this sentence was not enough according to David Bemis “Taylor should be given a death sentence and his assets given to the conscripted children or their families.” Many Americans also believe that Taylor should have received the 80 year sentence, in a poll of 10 people 90% wanted Taylor to have the 80 year sentence.




Former Liberian President Charles Taylor



Liberia

 
Images courtesy of: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02220/Charles-Taylor_2220622b.jpg and http://www.state.gov/cms_images/liberia_map_2007-worldfactbook.jpg