From "Duh" news department today the BBC reports the unsurprising story of Charles Taylor's decision to move from his nice house in Nigeria without bothering to leave a forwarding address. The former Liberian president is wanted by the Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal for his meddling in that country and probably also wanted by a number of people in Liberia who are rather upset at the way he treated that country as his own personal property. Last weekend Liberia and Nigeria announced that Nigeria planned to hand Mr Taylor over to Liberia and Liberia in turn was expected to hand him over to the tribunal. The UN chief prosecutor was a little miffed at the idea that Mr Taylor should have been given such a public warning:
"The watching world will wish to see Taylor held in Nigerian detention to avoid the possibility of him using his wealth and associates to slip away, with grave consequences to the stability of the region," Mr De Silva said on Sunday.
However what he feared appears to have come to pass. Mr Taylor and possibly some of those he did "business" with decided that it would be best if he did a bunk and so, amazingly enough, he has done so. The Nigerians have arrested all the suckers guards who were in charge of making sure he stayed put and I have no doubt that some or all of them got a few $$$ to look the other way at a critical period last night, but something tells me that this escape had some rather more senior involvement too.
The words "brewery" "pissup" "could" "organize" "not" are coming to my mind for some reason when I think of the diplomats who masterminded this particular triumph of justice