The chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President John Kufuor of Ghana, has urged the United Nations to consider setting aside the indictment of Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes in order to facilitate a negotiated settlement to Liberia's civil war.
| How do you spell "pusillanimous"? |
"I am not demeaning the role of the UN tribunal, although the indictment almost torpedoed the mediation process," Kufuor told a Security Council mission in the capital, Accra, on Monday.
| And we certainly wouldn't want that... |
On Jun 4 Taylor was publicly indicted by a UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone for his part in fuelling that country's 10-year civil war. The charges were announced as the Liberian leader flew to Accra to begin peace talks with two rebel movements. "While we rightly seek to use the rule of law to punish human rights offenders, I urge the UN Security Council to agree with us that we need to tackle immediately Liberia's humanitarian problems first," Kufuor said.
| That'll be a lot easier when Chuck's neck is three feet long... |
The Security Council team, led by Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, is touring West Africa to promote peace and stability in the region, where civil wars in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire threaten to destabilise neighbouring states. Greenstock said in reply to Kufuor's comments that while the Security Council respected the desires of West African leaders to address the needs of the region, it also respected the decision of the war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. "There is no immunity against those who go against human rights," he stressed.
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