The Liberian government has said it is “obliged to comply” with Nigeria’s position regarding the handing-over of former President Charles Taylor but finds it difficult to arrest him in Nigeria, as has been suggested.
Information Minister Johnny McClain said the government was, instead, working out plans with the international community for the transfer of Mr Taylor to the court in Sierra Leone.
Nigeria invited the Liberian government on Saturday to take delivery of Mr Taylor whenever it wished to do so.
But Mr McClain said the government did not understand how it would “go to arrest a former president in a foreign territory”.
“We do not have any extradition treaty between Liberia and Nigeria,” he said in a telephone interview.
“Besides, Taylor was not indicted by a Liberian court,” he added.
The government, he said, was “working out the modalities” with its international partners for the transfer of Mr Taylor to Sierra Leone.
Mr McClain said that even though Liberia did not have control over what would happen at the court, it would ensure that Mr Taylor was tried “in an environment that is not hostile”.
Bewildered
Liberians have been baffled about the terms on which Nigeria agreed to turn Taylor over.
Nigeria agreed that the government of Liberia could take charge of Taylor if and when ready, indicating that the federal government did not intend to facilitate his physical hand-over.
“This, in my opinion, is [Olusegun] Obasanjo’s way of showing displeasure over the early request for Taylor’s transfer,” said Chris Sumo, a university student.
“Otherwise he would have definitely arranged a programme during which the former president would be handed over here in Liberia or in Sierra Leone.”
Comfort Swen, a second-hand cloths dealer in the Monrovia commercial district of Waterside added:
“The way things are now looking, it is possible that Taylor will not appear in court in person.
“He may remain in exile and make a representation in court through his lawyers.”
Allies arrested
The legal counsel of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Party, Theophilus Gould, told the Associated Press news agency on Saturday that there was a legal team working “around the clock to ensure that the former president has qualitative and adequate legal representation” in court.
Mr Gould, a renowned lawyer and former Liberian solicitor-general, spoke before he got reports that the Nigerian president had agreed to hand Mr Taylor over.
National Security Agency (NSA) officials have displayed to AP two Taylor loyalists who were reportedly picked up early on Saturday.
Andy Kwemini and Alex Twe were taken from their detention cell looking tired but in good health.
NSA deputy director Lemuel Sherman could not say why the men had been arrested but only allowed AP to see them.
Mr Kwamini was an aide to Mr Taylor while Mr Twe was one of his “generals” before the end of war in 2003.
The homes of the two men were broken into at dawn on Saturday by local police backed by United Nations police, according to Mr Gould.
Their cell phones and those of their wives were taken away by the police before they were taken away, he said.
There were unconfirmed reports late on Saturday of the arrests of more Taylor loyalists.
Nobody was available at the justice ministry for comment.
But the arrests follow a press statement from the ministry on Friday evening in which the government said it had received reports that Taylor loyalists were engaged in “secret meetings” in Monrovia with the intent of opposing his transfer to court in Sierra Leone.