Posted by By Elkanah Chawai & Abdullahi Bego on
Charles Taylor was driven to the Nigerian border in a Liberian embassy car, the Daily Trust can reveal. The news raises questi-ons about who aided in his escape from his Calabar ho-me to the north of Borno state.
Charles Taylor was driven to the Nigerian border in a Liberian embassy car, the Daily Trust can reveal. The news raises questi-ons about who aided in his escape from his Calabar ho-me to the north of Borno state.
The Embassy yesterday denied helping the former president currently facing charges of crimes against humanity.
Eyewitnesses of Taylor's arrest last month said the diplomatic plate number of the jeep was 81 CD 85, as reported by Agence France Presse (AFP) and the Libe-rian newspaper The Analyst.
The Daily Trust can today confirm that this is a Liberian diplomatic number plate.
Embassies are designated specific numbers for their car registrations by the consular department of the Foreign Affairs ministry in Abuja. Number plates beginning with 81 are exclusively for the use of the Liberian govern-ment, an embassy staff mem-ber confirmed.
But the Charge d' Affairs of the Liberian embassy, Manfred Peters, said yest-erday the car was not offic-ially given to Mr Taylor by the embassy for his use.
He said: 'There was no official contact with Mr Taylor before his arrest. Mr Taylor has been the guest of the Nigerian government. I am waiting for the Federal government's investigation."
He added that a possible explanation was that Taylor had registered the car himself or that the plate was a forgery. He said: 'I don't think you should give any credence to that information. There wasn't any arrangement prior to the escape of Taylor".
'We don't know how he got the plate number. It depends on the authority who issued the number."
He said he didn't know which official the number had been issued to.
The Liberian ambassador was recalled to Monrovia when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected last year. The new ambassador designate has not been approved by the Liberian parliament and is still in Monrovia.
Nobody from the consular department of the Foreign Affairs ministry was available for comments over the weekend.
The government's spok-eswoman, Remi Oyo, said: 'This is a matter for the Libe-rian government to answer".
The Range Rover jeep is still being held by Customs officials in the village of Ngala, Borno state, police said.
Accusations of consp-iracy and complicity have dogged the Nigerian gover-nment since
Taylor and his wife were arrested at the border town of Ngala, 1,600 kilometres from Calabar, where he had been living. The Daily Trust reported that he was last seen by members of his house staff at the former British admin-istrator's colonial lodge in Calabar just 48 hours before he was arrested.
Fishermen preparing to set out for the day on Lake Chad witnessed Taylor's arrest at 6.30 am and told reporters the number of the red diplomatic plates.
President Obasanjo ann-ounced Mr Taylor had been caught while meeting with George Bush in Washington DC. Members of Taylor's bodyguard have been arrested and an inquiry set up, headed by Federal High Court Judge.
Taylor has plead not guilty to 11 counts of war cri-mes and crimes against hu-manity at a United Nations Special Court sitting in Sierra Leone. He may be moved to the Hague to face trial.
When arrested he had a 'substantial" amount of money in dollars and other foreign currencies, officials said.