Taylor Asylum Slammed by Former Nigerian Military Chief

ABUJA, Nigeria—A leading military commander has attacked Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's decision to offer asylum to former Liberian President and suspected war criminal Charles Taylor.

Lieutenant General Victor Malu, a former commander of ECOMOG, the regional peacekeeping force that intervened in the Liberian civil war from 1990 to 1999, said no other country would "offer even a visiting visa to anybody who has murdered and violated their nationals and Embassy with such impunity." He added that Taylor, "has remained totally unapologetic to the country and people of Nigeria," for the killing of Nigerian nationals.

Malu, who was also the Nigerian army's Chief of Staff from 1999-2001, was speaking at a meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association in Abuja, hosted by the Open Society Justice Initiative and also attended by Abdullahi Ibrahim, Nigeria's former Justice Minister and Attorney General. Joseph Kamara, a trial attorney with the Special Court for Sierra Leone where Taylor has been indicted for war crimes, also addressed the meeting. "I believe retirement from active service offers me the freedom to express my views on this matter," Malu said. "My difficulty with the decision of our government to host Taylor is that it portends nothing useful or positive for us. Instead, harboring Taylor has given Nigeria a "bad image" in the world, and "most importantly, our people do not approve of it."

According to Malu the decision to grant asylum to Taylor was political. "I have heard it argued that the departure of Charles Taylor was necessary and crucial to stop the circle of violence in Liberia and get the U.N. involved. I do not accept this argument for many reasons."

Malu outlined numerous ways in which Taylor directly acted against Nigerians and Nigerian interests, both as leader of the rebel National People's Front of Liberia and later as President. As rebel leader, Charles Taylor ordered the death of two Nigerian journalists, the routine execution of Nigerian nationals forcibly detained in areas under his control, and the execution of Nigerian prisoners of war. At Taylor's command, in 1990 the Nigerian embassy in Monrovia was destroyed and its staff was taken hostage. As President of Liberia, Taylor fueled the war in Sierra Leone in which hundreds of Nigerians and ECOMOG peacekeepers lost their lives, and subsequently undermined the Nigerian-brokered Abuja peace agreement.

According to Malu, the asylum grant is a symptom of a "culture of impunity, which in this instance relates to Charles Taylor and other rebel leaders in our sub-region."

"Could it be said that by hosting Taylor our government is condoning, approving, or even encouraging impunity?" Malu asked. "These questions need to be addressed because, if we are serious about human rights violations, in whatever form, we have to be careful that governments do not close their eyes and encourage the Taylors of this world in the guise of peace and security."