Should Charles Taylor be handed Over in Exchange for Debt Relief and A seat at the UN Security Council?

By

J.Iyobhebhe

iyobhebhe@hotmail.com

 

 

Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia was granted asylum in Nigeria over two years ago as part of an AU Deal to bring peace to Liberia and end the bloodshed in that Country. After a lot of diplomatic and political manoeuvrings it was finally decided that Nigeria should grant him asylum in return for Taylor stepping down and allowing an interim government bring peace to Liberia. OBJ granted Taylor asylum in 2003 in accordance with this accord and there has been peace and an end to the civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Taylor has lived quietly in Calabar, Nigeria and has generally kept within his asylum terms and conditions granted by the Nigerian government.

 

Nigeria, Ecowas, AU, the UN, US and the rest of the international community were involved in the difficult attempt to bring peace to Liberia and the sub region. There was a common understanding that Taylor needed a soft landing somewhere to allow peace to reign. There was no major international objection to granting asylum to Taylor in Nigeria. In fact, OBJ and the South African President were hailed for their successful diplomacy in getting Taylor out and ending the war in Liberia. I cannot recall the US Congress or US government actively attempting to block the deal. In fact as Collin Powell said recently, the US government at the time actively encouraged the soft landing asylum option for Taylor, as the US and Nigeria wanted him out of the Liberian political equation as a prelude to peace returning to Liberia.

 

Our President went over to DC last week to see GW and explain among other things why the US should support Nigeria’s campaign for debt relief and to claim one of the two permanent seats set aside for Africa in the reformed UN Security Council structure.

 

Whilst in the US it was reported that our President was put under intense diplomatic pressure to hand over Taylor to the ICC (War Crimes Tribunal) seating in Sierra Leone. Certain members of the US congress had put pressure on Condi Rice and GW to turn the heat on OBJ and get him to hand Taylor over for trial. They figured out that if there is a time to ask OBJ to hand Taylor over it is now. Now that Nigeria needs the US for its debt relief and UN Security Council Seat campaign. They want Charles Taylor in return for their support, at least on the UNSC seat issue.

 

Some critics in Nigeria and the US have argued that apart from the war crimes committed by Taylor in Liberia and Sierra Leone, Taylor has been meddling in Liberia’s internal affairs from Nigeria in breach of his asylum condition and has direct and dangerous links with Alqueda and Bin Laden. The Nigeria Union of Journalist is particular keen to get Taylor out as they accuse him of ordering the deaths of two of their colleagues during the Liberian conflict. Some civil/ human rights groups and politically correct individuals have said Taylor’s presence in Nigeria is an embarrassment. That OBJ is turning Nigeria into a haven for ex African despots. How many do we have in Nigeria?

 

GW and Condi could not ignore the US Congress completely and did the right political thing by hinting to OBJ their desire.  OBJ in turn did the right thing by telling the Americans that we do not condone any criminality or war crimes allegedly committed by Taylor or anyone else and that the US and Nigeria will work together to achieve ‘what needs to be achieved’.

 

I think it is unfair for the US to put such pressure on our President just because we need their support for DR and the UN Security Council seat. They were aware of the deal that brought Taylor to Nigeria in the first place and actively supported the plan in 2003. The Nigerian government even made it clear to the international community that they will not take Taylor in if they will later turn round and say they want Taylor extradited.  These issues were thrashed out then to everyone’s satisfaction before Taylor was allowed into Nigeria.

 

OBJ was right in playing to the gallery in Washington and telling our friends in the US we understand their views on Taylor. Our US friends should also understand that we are trying to play Big Brother in Africa and help maintain peace, democracy and the rule of law. If we hand over Taylor unceremoniously to the ICC, what credibility will Nigeria have in trying to broker future peace deals in Africa’s war zones and trouble spots. The US should help Nigeria maintain order in a very turbulent and challenging region because if we fail and we lose face in our own back yard, it is the US, as the world’s global policeman that may have to send its soldiers and men into these war zones to establish peace and end the bloodbath. They don’t have to, but if no one else will risk their soldiers in Africa then everyone will turn to Uncle Sam as the only super power standing. This was what happened in Somalia in the end. They tried it in Somalia and saw it was not a joyful task. So I think they should give credit to OBJ for helping to bring peace to Liberia.  

 

I am not saying that if Taylor is guilty he should never face trial. I am not saying either that what Taylor is alleged to have done is anything to be proud of. I accept there is international criminal law. I accept there are crimes against humanity. I accept there are questions for Charles Taylor to answer. But if Ecowas, the AU, US, UN and the international community actively supported the initial asylum deal and the result is now peace in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the sub region then our President must not be forced to go back on his honour on the Charles Taylor issue. We made a promise to Taylor and to the rest of world that if Taylor agreed to step aside for peace to reign and to prevent more unnecessary deaths in Liberia and Serria Leone we would grant him refuge. He stepped aside and we did the deal for Liberia and for peace.

 

I think whether, where and when Charles Taylor should face trial should ultimately be with the Liberian people and Government for the bulk of the alleged crimes were committed in Liberia. I think the US, UN and Nigeria all have a role to play but we should respect the views of the Liberian government on this important issue. I think we must allow them decide whether the moral and legal case for a trial overrides the immediate need for peace, stability and trying to build a new, peaceful and democratic Liberia. We must all ask ourselves whether an immediate closure on the Taylor era is more pressing at this moment in time than the reconstruction efforts going on in Liberia.

 

The Nigerian government has said that if the new Liberian govt wants Taylor extradited, it will comply. But the new men in charge in Liberia have said Taylor is not priority right now. The US should be putting pressure on their new friends in Monrovia and pass the moral burden onto them about what to do with Charles Taylor. It would be unfair to force OBJ to renege on his promise to Taylor, Ecowas, AU and the international community just because we are begging for debt relief and a seat on the UN Security Council. The Americans should understand that by helping us they are also helping themselves in the long run. They should respect our position on Taylor. They should not bully us on Taylor.

 

The US government should not only support and empower Nigeria but should continue to build a strategic alliance that will prevent the US from having in the future to sacrifice American blood in trying to prevent wars or end wars or effect a regime change in Africa as they had to do in other parts of the world recently e.g., former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

I think ignoring or undermining Nigeria on the Charles Taylor issue will not be in the strategic interest of the US in Africa. We both need each other and the relationship should be based on mutual respect and dignity. Yes, we accept they are the only superpower. Yes, we accept that they have all the money and are a trillion times richer, more powerful and more prosperous than us. Yes, we accept they mean well for Liberia and Africa. Yes, where there is a wrong, there should be a right. Yes, justice should be done. Yes, we should all set an example in Africa that leaders who encourage or lead unjust and illegal wars killings thousands in the process should have no hiding place when they finally leave office. Yes, we all accept these international principles. But it would be wrong to bully us over Charles Taylor. Political expediency brought Taylor to Nigeria not because Nigerians or OBJ love him.

 

They say we owe the London and Paris Clubs in excess of US$35B. We cannot afford to pay the interest on these loans, let alone the capital sum. We are too scared to totally renege on our debt obligations for obvious reasons. And I do not think we should. The average person in Africa’s most populous country lives on less than $300 per year. That is $300 per year for food, housing, clothing, healthcare, education, water and staying alive. George Washington University’s yearly budget is more than the education budget for Nigeria as a whole.  The pressure for mass migration to the US and EU is so great that the UK government recently had to stop visa applications for a particular category of Nigerians till 2006. The brain drain from Nigeria to North America and EU undermines our economic development and sinks us further into the poverty trap. Billions of Dollars is required to tackle the human, social and economic effects of HIV/Aids. It is a desperate situation and our friends in the US should sell this reality to the Bush Administration. In the name of common humanity the US and the EU should support our call for Debt relief. The US should not tie the future prosperity of over 130 million Africans to Charles Taylor.

 

We need to move from a raw materials (oil) dominated economy to a developing economy that will give every Nigerian the opportunity to lead a decent life in his own country. It is in our interest and the interest of the US  that we move the Nigerian economy forward and have the money to pay for basic facilities for our people. We cant if we are paying a massive chunk of our GDP on debt servicing. There is an economic, social and moral case for debt relief and the moral case is in my view a massive one.

 

If the US and EU governments want to help they should help repatriate the alleged Billions of Dollars stashed away in their banks and invested in their economies by some corrupt Nigerian officials, past and present. They should do an inventory of Nigerian held assets in their countries and ask the owners to come forward and establish the source of the wealth. If it cannot be properly established then it should be seized and held in trust for the Nigerian people for repatriation. Better still, they can use it to off set our $35B debt for I suspect that illegal monies and assets held abroad by some of our corrupt officials will exceed our Foreign Debt. And besides, some of the loan monies given to Nigeria since independence (for projects that were never fulfilled) were illegally diverted back to its source in the form of private bank accounts and assets in North America and Europe. The monies and loans they are asking the poor Nigerian people of today to pay back is already in their system. I am sure our friends in DC, London, Paris, Berlin know this.

 

Another option is to say that instead of paying interest or capital on the loans, the Nigeria government stop paying and use the yearly annual current repayments on specific projects in Nigeria , i.e. HIV relief and care, Basic education, water and healthcare projects over the next 5 years. If this is successfully done then the entire debt can be written off on a similar basis over a specified period of time. The creditors have loads of options on the mechanics of DR. Hanging on to the debt for political, diplomatic or strategic leverage is pointless.

 

Nigeria, sometimes disorganized, sometimes disappointing, sometimes frustrating, is never the less home to one in four African. Almost one quarter of the Continents population lives within Nigeria’s boarders. We carry the hopes and dreams of 130 million plus Africans. We are a democratic country under the rule of law. We are trying to root out corruption in public life and institute accountability and transparency in public life. We are good friends to the US and EU. We are a force for democracy and stability in Africa. We are partners in the war on terror. We export a fair percentage of our brightest and not so bright to help develop the US and EU economies. Can they really turn round and not give one of the two permanent African seats at the UNSC to Nigeria? I think it would be difficult to justify not giving it to Nigeria because of Charles Taylor.

 

I agree we have to make our case and continue to do so in Africa and at the UN. And we need to convince the AU to adopt a common approach and nominate Nigeria and South Africa. Yes, we need US support. But tying it to Taylor, again I think is a

mistake. You cannot tie the hopes and aspirations of 1 in 4 Africa to the Trial of Charles Taylor. It is a disproportionate price for Nigeria to pay.

 

What unites the US and Nigeria economically, politically, strategically and culturally is by far greater than the issue of a single man by the name of Charles Taylor. Let us not throw the baby out with the bath water. The US should support Nigerian Debt relief and our rightful claim to a permanent seat at the UNSC. They should find other appropriate means of resolving the Charles Taylor Question.

 

 

 J.Iyobhebhe

 

iyobhebhe@hotmail.com