The appearance of former Liberian president Charles Taylor before the United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in The Hague is generating huge interest and excitement in his home country.

By John Kollie, Monrovia

Taylor’s allegations regarding the involvement of current Liberian leaders in the instigation of the country’s civil war have garnered the former president strong support across the nation.

Liberians monitor the trial through daily BBC updates syndicated to 20 Liberian broadcasters and a myriad of pro-Taylor support groups have formed since his arrest.

Discussions about Taylor’s prosecution are also held on university campuses and street corners around the country, most of which condemn the trial as a witch-hunt by Western powers.

Taylor’s proponents also accuse current Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of abandoning her predecessor and handing him over to the SCSL in order to humiliate him. Eric Kennedy, a leading member of the Friends of Taylor, maintains that Sirleaf orchestrated his arrest. John T. Richardson, head of the Association for the Legal Defense of Charles Taylor has called it “an unpatriotic act by a sitting president”.

Sirleaf was “prime supporter”
In turn, Taylor’s testimony about Sirleaf’s involvement in the civil war has buoyed his supporters even further.

During his testimony, Taylor has alleged that Sirleaf supported his declaration of war on Liberia in 1989 and has called her “the prime supporter of my military adventurism in this country” - an allegation that has been partly confirmed by the findings of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

TRC Chairman Jerome Verdier has told several radio and TV talk shows that his commission’s findings are well substantiated and that the President’s involvement in the brutal civil war in Liberia was confirmed by many witnesses who appeared before the TRC earlier this year.

Issued in July 2009, the TRC final report included President Johnson-Sirleaf in a list of 50 people who should be “barred from holding public office” for “being associated with former warring factions”.

Taylor’s supporters argue that Sirleaf should not have turned him over for trial since she was herself involved in the violence in the West African sub-region.

Taylor’s family and members of his former regime are also standing behind him. His ex-wife and current member of Liberia’s parliament, Jewel Howard Taylor; former Taylor political party Chairman Cyril Allen; and former Maritime Shipping Agency chief, Benoni Urey, are all speaking out in his support and regularly condemn the government for having turned him over for trial.

The government, however, denies any hand in the trial and points to the fact that Taylor is charged with crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Liberia’s Minister of Information, Dr. Lawrence Bropleh, has dismissed the allegations as a ploy by former Taylor officials to undermine the Sirleaf government.

But the excitement that the trial is generating in Liberia is worrisome. Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia had a huge following amongst the country’s youth, who make up around 40% of the population.

Given the still fragile nature of Liberia’s post-war peace and the increasing divisions between Taylor and Sirleaf supporters, Taylor’s growing popularity could have serious consequences for the country.

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