FREETOWN, April 2 - Moving Africa's most notorious war crimes suspect,
Charles Taylor, from Sierra Leone to stand trial in The Hague is likely to take
several weeks at least, court officials and diplomats say.
The former Liberian President is due to appear in Sierra Leone's U.N.-backed
Special Court on Monday, when he is expected to plead not guilty to 11
indictments for atrocities committed during the former British colony's
1991-2002 civil war.
But fears the former warlord's presence could undermine stability in the
volatile West African region where he still has pockets of support have led the
court to ask the Netherlands if it could host the main body of the trial in The
Hague.
"Sierra Leone has gone through a very nasty war, Liberia has gone through an
equally nasty war. Guinea has problems, Ivory Coast has some problems," Sierra
Leone's Information Minister, Septimus Kaikai, told Reuters.
"The trauma that people went through in this country, they are still going
through, both psychological and otherwise. If there is the perception that there
is a slight possibility that that might take place again, prevention is better
than cure."
Britain circulated a U.N. Security Council resolution on Friday that would
authorise Taylor's transfer to the Netherlands, and is expected to be adopted
early next week.
But court officials say the resolution is only one condition for Taylor's
transfer and other measures, including ensuring security and other facilities in
The Hague, could take time.
"It will not be next week. It will take several weeks at least," one senior
court official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
TIGHT SECURITY
Moving Taylor's trial to The Hague is likely to be expensive and complicated
for the Special Court, which was originally set up in Sierra Leone on the
request of the government.
The prosecution would have to decide whether to fly witnesses to Europe, many
of them villagers who have never even visited the capital and who would need
interpreters to translate from at least six local languages, court officials
said.