WORLD: Ex-African leader Charles Taylor claims war crimes allegations are lies
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor told judges at his war crimes trial in The Hague today the case against him was built on lies.
Taylor is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, using child soldiers and spreading terror during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war. He is the first African leader to stand trial for war crimes.
He took the stand for the first time today since the trial started 18 months ago and said it was "very, very, very unfortunate that the prosecution - because of disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumours - would associate me with such titles or descriptions.
"I have fought all my life to do what I thought was right in the interests of justice and fair play," he said. Taylor is accused of supporting the Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone. Prosecutors say he trained in Libya with the RUF's leader, Foday Sankoh.
Taylor denied plotting with Sankoh to invade "that friendly country", and rejected claims that he ordered rebels to hack off their enemies' hands - a common atrocity of the war.
"It is wrong. It never happened in Liberia, I would never ever have accepted that in Liberia and we would never have encouraged that in Sierra Leone," he said.
About 500,000 people are estimated to have been victims of killings, mutilation and other atrocities in the West African nation's civil war. Some of the worst crimes were carried out by gangs of child soldiers.
Prosecutors at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone say Taylor, who became president of neighbouring Liberia in 1997, also helped strip Sierra Leone of its mineral wealth.
Anneke Galama of Fatal Transactions, which campaigns for the fair distribution of profits from Africa's mineral resources, said the case was a landmark in the fight against so-called blood diamonds mined by slave labour. "The Taylor process shows we don't allow diamonds any more as a way to finance violence and human rights abuses," she said.
The case continues.
