[allAfrica.com] [celtel.com] Amnesty Accuses Nigeria of Violating International Law The Analyst (Monrovia) NEWS September 28, 2004 Posted to the web September 28, 2004 Submits Amicus Curiae Brief to Federal Court to Challenge Taylor's Asylum In June last, former Liberian president, Charles G. Taylor was served an arrest warrant while attending the opening session of the Liberian peace processes in Accra, Ghana. What happened since then has been an issue of international debate. But of particular concern and even much more controversial are Taylor's asylum in Calabar and the refusal of Nigeria to extradite him to face his accusers on grounds that his presence in Nigeria is a crucial part of the Liberian peace process. Besides the Nigerian government, no state or individual has seen how that can be so; and on account of that, many human rights groups including the Association of Human Rights Organizations in Liberia, Global Witness, and legal pressure groups in Nigeria have been pressing for Taylor's release to the special court in Sierra Leone ostensibly without success. Now, the international human rights giants, Amnesty International has thrown in its weight. The Analyst's Staff Writer reports. "Charles Taylor has been indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity and war crimes. In accordance with international and African conventions on refugees which Nigeria has ratified, he should, therefore, be excluded from refugee protections." This statement was contained in the September 22, 2004 amicus curiae brief submitted to the Nigerian Federal High Court by the London-based human rights group, Amnesty International in a case reviewing asylum granted to former Liberian president Charles Taylor. In the amicus curiae or friend of the court brief, Amnesty argued that Nigeria must make a choice between submitting Nigeria for trial or open a national investigation with a view of determining whether to pursue criminal or extradition proceedings in Nigerian courts. According to the brief, the decision by the Nigerian government to grant refugee status to Charles Taylor with apparent guarantees to protect him from prosecution for crimes against humanity and war crimes violates Nigeria's obligations under international law. "This rule of international law seeks to ensure that states refrain from offering international protection to individuals who are accused of heinous crimes who are trying to evade justice," Amnesty emphasized in its brief which was reportedly signed by Prof. Guy Goodwin Gill said to be an international expert on international refugee law. The Nigerian Federal High Court's review case which has been ongoing since March 31, 2004, is expected to consider Amnesty application in early October this year. When that happens, according to political observers, the government of President Olusengun Obansanjo is likely to press ahead with its longstanding but trite argument that Taylor was a special case of international cooperation which it is not prepared to breach. As it had done before, the West African power may not bother to say whether the special case of international cooperation supersedes international protocols, conventions, and treatise to which it is a party. Charles Taylor was indicted in March 2003, for "bearing the greatest responsibility" for crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law believed to fall within jurisdiction of the Special Court of Sierra Leone. Since that time, the court has been unable to arraign Mr. Taylor despite the fact that it quashed the motions of Taylor's legal counsels that questioned its jurisdiction and raised the issue of immunity in favor of the defendant. But that is not the only contradiction in the Taylor's extradition scenario, according to analysts. The Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court, David Crane concurred in a dispatch recently, pointing to Nigeria's official sanction of the Special Court notwithstanding its refusal to let Taylor go. "Nigeria sits on the Special Court's Management Committee at UN headquarters in New York; Nigeria is the largest African donor to the Special Court; and from its beginning, the Court has been guarded by the Nigerian contingent of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL)," the chief prosecutor revealed. Various official government statements over the past year regarding Taylor's asylum have been consistently inconsistent, according to one view. While one statement insists that Taylor will only be released by the Nigerian government upon request by the government of Liberia, discounting whether he is wanted by that government or not, other Nigerian government statement has been contending that Taylor's asylum is part of the peace process and could not be ended before whole process. "Countries have honour to protect like individuals. You don't give your word to people, you don't become part of a multi-lateral arrangement and then suddenly jump back and do the opposite. The admission of Charles Taylor into Nigeria was a carefully negotiated issue," Foreign Minister Olujini Adeniji said recently in an Africa Today magazine interview. He was responding to an Africa Today query regarding whether Nigeria would "ultimately turn over Taylor" to the UN Special Court in Sierra Leone. According to him, Nigeria has nothing to return Taylor to since it was clear from the beginning, through understanding reached amongst several heads of state and government, that she would not be required to do so. The Nigerian envoy recalled that Nigeria agreed to take Taylor basically to get the peace process that had stalled by then reenergized in order to end the nightmare that was raging unabated inside Liberia. He explained: "And it involved not only west African countries, but also some other African counties It involved the President of South Africa and the chairman of the AU President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and the immediate past chairman of the AU. Everybody agreed. Nigeria was approached by everyone. It involved 'extra-African' countries who pledged that everything should be done to get Charles Taylor out of Liberia otherwise the peace process cannot resume." Ambassador Adeniji revealed that at the time of the deal to take Taylor into Nigeria, it was unanimous, even with representatives of the international community, that that offered the best solution of getting over the internal conflict. He said there was general agreement that the understanding would not only benefit Liberia, but that it would also benefit the whole of West Africa. "Because you know these conflicts just circulate. It's the same group of guerillas who migrate from country to country. And we have to try and put a stop to that," the Nigeria foreign minister noted, alluding to allegations that Mr. Taylor is the epicenter of disruptive politics in the subregion. Without saying so, the Nigeria foreign policy architect indicated that Taylor in Nigeria is a much lesser threat to regional peace and stability than a Taylor in Sierra Leone facing war crimes charges. The Nigerian Foreign Affairs minister believes that surrendering Taylor for trial will not only jeopardise the Liberian peace process with dire consequences for the entire West African subregion, but is also a dishonorable thing to do, according to Africa Today. How much of that matches up to counter-arguments that Taylor's trial will serve as a warning and deterrence to warmongers across the subregion, cannot be said readily. But this position effectively set Nigeria on a lonely path apart from the countries and governments that Mr. Adeniji claimed agreed that Taylor would live in Nigeria in luxury and pageantry in spite of determined efforts to have him face trial in Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity. All of this is politics of international diplomacy, said one analyst, adding, "The question now is, will Adeniji's protectionist theory prevail against Nigerian and international law comes October 13 this year?"   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2004 The Analyst. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================