"I will not stand back," was national Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka's message on Wednesday at the start of his testimony before the Hefer Commission. The chief prosecutor read a prepared statement to the commission, warning that he would not back off from investigating his accusers. "We are all equal before the law, no matter how wealthy or in which position," he added.
The commission is probing allegations that Ngcuka served as an agent for the apartheid government and consequently abused his current powers. He said on Wednesday that he expected some to be baying for his blood if he performed his duties (as head of the National Prosecuting Authority) without fear or favour. However, it never occurred to him that his former liberation struggle comrades and leaders would be among them. Ngcuka was apparently referring to former transport minister Mac Maharaj and former intelligence commander Mo Shaik, who are his main accusers.
Ngcuka said he would not retreat and run back to the "hole" from which he came, as Shaik's brother Schabir earlier told him to do. With this Schabir -- who is being prosecuted by the NPA -- meant Middeldrift in the Eastern Cape where he was born, Ngcuka explained. He said he did not intend to break the confidentiality agreement between him and a group of editors whom he gave an off-the-record briefing in July. Maharaj and former City Press editor Vusi Mona earlier accused Ngcuka of defaming people at this meeting whom his Scorpions unit investigated. Ngcuka denied all the allegations on Wednesday. "I broke no law, I defamed no-one and I made no racist remarks about my fellow South Africans of Indian descent," he said.
Ngcuka also denied any further abuse of power, saying he was deeply respectful of the office he held. He said he knew only too well what it was like to be at the receiving end of the abuse of state power. He was referring to his suffering at the hands of the apartheid government's security police. Ngcuka reiterated that he was not before the commission to clear his name or prove his innocence. "There is no need for that," he said. He denied that he ever informed on his former struggle comrades, saying none of them were ever arrested because of what he said or did.
Source: Polity
Thursday, December 11, 2003
Thursday, December 4, 2003
Red Notice Issued for Charles Taylor
The international law enforcement agency INTERPOL today issued a "Red Notice" to seek the arrest, with a view to transfer to the Special Court, of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who was indicted by the Special Court in March 2003 for crimes committed during Sierra Leone's war. Mr Taylor faces a 17-count indictment on war crimes and crimes against humanity, which include terrorising the civilian population, unlawful killings, sexual violence, physical violence, use of child soldiers, abductions, forced labour, looting and burning, and attacks on peacekeeping personnel.
The issuance of the "Red Notice" is by an agreement that entered into force between the Special Court and INTERPOL on November 3, 2003 under which the Court may request that INTERPOL publish and circulate "Red Notices" for persons wanted by the Special Court. The Office of the Prosecutor said the INTERPOL "Red Notice" will serve as a reminder that Charles Taylor remains a fugitive from justice. The Office said there was no amnesty for war crimes or crimes against humanity. The Prosecutor added that Mr Taylor's indictment will not go away and that he remains wanted by the international community to face the very serious charges against him.
Source: Special Court for Sierra Leone
The issuance of the "Red Notice" is by an agreement that entered into force between the Special Court and INTERPOL on November 3, 2003 under which the Court may request that INTERPOL publish and circulate "Red Notices" for persons wanted by the Special Court. The Office of the Prosecutor said the INTERPOL "Red Notice" will serve as a reminder that Charles Taylor remains a fugitive from justice. The Office said there was no amnesty for war crimes or crimes against humanity. The Prosecutor added that Mr Taylor's indictment will not go away and that he remains wanted by the international community to face the very serious charges against him.
Source: Special Court for Sierra Leone
Interpol Puts Liberian Ex-Chief On World's Most-Wanted List
Interpol called Thursday for the arrest of the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, for his suspected role in atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war. Interpol put Mr. Taylor on its most wanted list by posting a "red notice" on its Web site, alerting police forces around the world to an arrest warrant issued by Sierra Leone in June.
Interpol's notice does little to change Mr. Taylor's status: he has been living in Nigeria since resigning his presidency in August as part of an American-brokered accord to end fighting in Liberia. But the Interpol action does raise the international profile of the Sierra Leone warrant, which Nigeria has so far ignored. "It reminds the world that Charles Taylor remains a fugitive from justice," said Allison Cooper, a spokeswoman for the United Nations court in Sierra Leone, speaking by telephone from Freetown. "It also demonstrates that there's no such thing as amnesty for war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The court, set up in 2000, has argued that because Nigeria is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, the African Convention on Human Rights and the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court, it is obligated to turn Mr. Taylor over for prosecution as a war criminal or try him itself. But Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who granted Mr. Taylor asylum in hopes of neutralizing his influence in the region, has rejected Sierra Leone's extradition request. Mr. Obasanjo has said he might consider a similar request by Liberia, if that country seeks to prosecute its former president. Nigeria's asylum agreement with Mr. Taylor does not shield him from Liberian law.
Mr. Taylor, born to an American father and a Liberian mother, graduated from Bentley College in Massachusetts and worked in the Liberian civil service in the 1980's before he was accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars. He fled and returned in December 1989 to mount a rebellion from neighboring Ivory Coast. From the beginning, his forces were accused of appalling violence. He became Liberia's president in July 1997, though the fighting in the country continued.
Mr. Taylor is charged with training and arming Sierra Leone rebels, many of them children, for that country's long and bloody civil war. Hundreds of thousands of people died during the fighting, and thousands more were left maimed by the Liberian-trained rebels who punished civilians by hacking off limbs. Sierra Leone's war ended in 2001, and its court indicted Mr. Taylor in June. The court applied to become an Interpol member this April, and that process was completed last month, allowing the police organization to post its notice.
As with all Interpol red notices, a photograph of Mr. Taylor appeared on the organization's Web site, with the added warning: "Person May Be Dangerous."
Source: New York Times
Interpol's notice does little to change Mr. Taylor's status: he has been living in Nigeria since resigning his presidency in August as part of an American-brokered accord to end fighting in Liberia. But the Interpol action does raise the international profile of the Sierra Leone warrant, which Nigeria has so far ignored. "It reminds the world that Charles Taylor remains a fugitive from justice," said Allison Cooper, a spokeswoman for the United Nations court in Sierra Leone, speaking by telephone from Freetown. "It also demonstrates that there's no such thing as amnesty for war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The court, set up in 2000, has argued that because Nigeria is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, the African Convention on Human Rights and the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court, it is obligated to turn Mr. Taylor over for prosecution as a war criminal or try him itself. But Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who granted Mr. Taylor asylum in hopes of neutralizing his influence in the region, has rejected Sierra Leone's extradition request. Mr. Obasanjo has said he might consider a similar request by Liberia, if that country seeks to prosecute its former president. Nigeria's asylum agreement with Mr. Taylor does not shield him from Liberian law.
Mr. Taylor, born to an American father and a Liberian mother, graduated from Bentley College in Massachusetts and worked in the Liberian civil service in the 1980's before he was accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars. He fled and returned in December 1989 to mount a rebellion from neighboring Ivory Coast. From the beginning, his forces were accused of appalling violence. He became Liberia's president in July 1997, though the fighting in the country continued.
Mr. Taylor is charged with training and arming Sierra Leone rebels, many of them children, for that country's long and bloody civil war. Hundreds of thousands of people died during the fighting, and thousands more were left maimed by the Liberian-trained rebels who punished civilians by hacking off limbs. Sierra Leone's war ended in 2001, and its court indicted Mr. Taylor in June. The court applied to become an Interpol member this April, and that process was completed last month, allowing the police organization to post its notice.
As with all Interpol red notices, a photograph of Mr. Taylor appeared on the organization's Web site, with the added warning: "Person May Be Dangerous."
Source: New York Times
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