A UN-mandated court has charged Liberian President Charles Taylor with war crimes allegedly committed during Sierra Leone's 11-year long civil war.
| Chuck? War crimes? You can't be serious! (He'll have his boyz slaughter your family if you are...) |
A court spokesman says President Taylor has been indicted for bearing the greatest responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violation of international humanitarian law in Sierra Leone, up to November 1996. Details of the indictment have been released in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown. The Liberian President was already under UN sanctions for allegedly backing rebels from Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The rebels were notorious for recruiting child soldiers and hacking off people's limbs in the war which raged from 1991 until January last year, and claimed up to 200,000 lives. The RUF's leader, Foday Sankoh, is currently detained by the war crimes court. |