The Charles Taylor trial and the lesson for our Rulers

By: A/Rahman Sayed

18^th July 2007

On Monday evening (16 July 2007), Alalam TV network invited me to a live discussion on the legal and political implications of the trial of Charles Taylor, the ex-Liberian leader who is on War Crimes trial in the Hague, Holland. Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 and ruled Liberia until 2003. He came to power through force as a rebel leader and was deposed of power by force in turn. He is accused of committing barbarous crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sierra Leone (Liberia’s neighbour). He is currently held in detention awaiting trial before a “hybrid” court in the Hague - Holland. The trial is expected to last up to a year and half to two years, depending on the efficiency of the court proceedings and the financial backing the process requires to prepare and prosecute the suspects, which include Charles Taylor and other rebel leaders from Sierra Leone. In reviewing some of the allegations, it appears that some of the crimes allegedly committed by Charles Taylor are similar in nature to those committed by our Eritrean rulers.

According to the Special Court for Sierra Leone Taylor is accused of at least eleven accounts of crimes. Five of them involve Crimes against Humanity, another five relate to War Crimes and a further one to violations of International Humanitarian Law.

When reading through the above eleven accounts of crimes one discovers the similarities of the crimes allegedly committed by Charles Taylor to those that are being committed by our own rulers in Eritrea. For example the accounts of Crimes against Humanity include: murder, rape, sexual slavery, mutilating and beating, and enslavement. If we take each of these accounts and draw a line of comparison to what Eritrean citizens are facing, it needs no legal expertise to recognise the degree of similarities. Here is a quick comparative list of the similarities:-

Crimes Against Humanity	Its Eritrean version
Murder	Countless killings of individual citizens including those unaccounted for i.e. those who have disappeared once picked by pfdj squads.
Rape	Sawa military camp is already known to Eritreans as a “rape camp”. Hundreds of young girls who are forcefully conscripted are subjected to systematic rapes by both senior and junior pfdj army officers. The surviving victims are living witnesses. Every young girl who has gone through the Sawa training camp would testify to rape crimes committed against her and her fellow conscripts. There are many of these girls who fled Eritrea and sought asylum in Europe and other safe countries who may one day be able to file their cases before courts to ensure those who inflicted on them the barbaric crimes are brought to justice to account for their inhumane deeds.
Sexual slavery	There are already plausible reports that confirm pfdj generals’ use of young girls as sexual slaves if they are to be spared from digging trenches and living in front lines facing well armed enemy across the trenches. At times, it is reported that it is a custom for every pfdj general to have upto three girls as his domestic and sex slaves.
Mutilating and beating	I believe the barbaric beatings of our fellow citizens by using, for example, the “helicopter” method for severely tying the legs and hands together to literally disable the victim to submit to the cruel beatings of his or her aggressor, comes under this category. Those who survive such tortures are left with permanent scars and disabilities of one form or the other in addition to trauma.
Enslavement	The entire so-called “Warsay-YekAalo” is nothing but a form of “enslavement”. Young people as well as elders who are economically deprived are made to carry and move heavy stones from one place to another to build so called dams. The victims of this atrocity are offered no protection against the heat of the sun nor against any safety risks of moving rocks barehanded. Moreover, there are plausible reports that many of the young people enslaved are taken to build or renovate pfdj generals’ villas.

In addition to the above list, terrorising civilians, outrages on personal dignity, cruel treatment and looting, which are being considered as part of the war crimes charged against Charles Taylor, are also perpetrated by our pfdj rulers and their business conglomerates that are systematically looting the meagre resources of our nation and citizens under the full protection of the pfdj regime.

The importance of the Taylor trial is not only because it is the first of its kind in bringing an African leader to face justice, but because it is a symbolic gesture that no one is above the law and that sooner or later all those dictators and their collaborators who continue to perpetrate horrendous crimes against their citizens will face similar trials; unless they repent before it is too late.

African leaders should learn from the experience of Charles Taylor and other African dictators such as Menghistu Haile-Mariam of Ethiopia and Hussein Habre of Chad. The clock is ticking fast before Prsident Issayas Afeworki and the choices are clear!! Either surrender power to the people in return for immunity and respect as the late General Agustos Pinochet of Chile or face justice sooner or later as Charles Taylor of Liberia and Menghistu Hailemariam of Ethiopia.

The time to decide on one of the options is now. There are no more public support for the pfdj from any quarter of our diverse society. More and more core cadres of the pfdj are abandoning the regime, which is a clear symptom of a decomposing power grip. A quick visit to The Voice of the Eritrean Masses radio archives will certainly enable pfdj leaders to see that the Menghistu regime had gone through similar phases before his final downfall. pfdj leaders should remember that the Menghistu regime was continuously abandoned by its cadres, diplomats and ministers in late 1980s. The Voice of the Masses from Sahel rightly enjoyed reporting the defections as a sign of the Menghistu regime’s crumpling scene.

Self-serving brutal despots are often surrounded by opportunists whose main aim is maximising their personal gains. Such cronies should also be reminded that they will not enjoy the luxury of their illegally accumulated wealth. In our global world, it is not difficult to put pressure on finance institutions to freeze the accounts of alleged criminals and their associates.

The pdf leadership is invited to review their record of human rights abuse and admit their inhumane actions in the past sixteen years. No one is asking them to concede defeat to their foes in the opposition groups, if any, but to take a historic step by accepting the sovereignty of the Eritrean people, by handing over power and public property in their possession to a democratically elected government. They can start this process by declaring their preparedness to work through a transparent transitional period, which should include releasing all political prisoners, ceasing their unpopular policies of military conscription and enslavement, and facilitating the immediate and unconditional return of all Eritrean refugees to their home land. President Issayas Afeworki and his pfdj party can accomplish these tasks while they are still in power and have the ability to do so. If not, their downfall is inevitable!! And history will remember pfdj leaders as the worst rulers who ruled the Eritrean people!!.

May Peace and Justice prevail in Eritrea.

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