The Al-Qaeda network is actively seeking to destablize west Africa, partly through its links with ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor, pictured in 2003, who has given sanctuary to the network's operatives, a UN-backed court said.(AFP/File/Georges Gobet)
Al-Qaeda and Liberia's Taylor working to destabilize West Africa: UN
Tue May 24, 6:38 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The Al-Qaeda terror network is active in West Africa and seeks to destabilize the region through its links with Liberian former president Charles Taylor, members of a UN appointed tribunal said.
Taylor faces a 17-count indictment by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He is accused of arming and training rebels in exchange for so-called "blood diamonds."
The main target is Guinea, where Taylor has been linked to the January 19 assassination attempt on President Lansana Conte, the tribunal's main researcher said at a press conference here.
Chief investigator Al White emphasized that the researchers have been "receiving credible, reliable information" on the destabilization plans "from sources and witnesses we've been dealing with for three years in the region."
The sources report that Taylor "is actively involved in trying to destabilize the region and there will be another threat and another attempt very, very soon," White said.
Until Taylor is brought to justice "he will be an immediate, clear and present danger to peace and security not only in Liberia but in the entire West African region," White added.
White also said that Taylor was linked to unrest in nearby Ivory Coast.
Taylor, the former president of Liberia, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Special Tribunal for his role in that neighboring country's 1991-2001 civil war.
Nigeria granted him asylum in August 2003 believing that, despite an international arrest warrant, the move would help facilitate peace in Liberia.
Within a month of arriving in Sierra Leone in May 2002 members of the tribunal "ran smack dab in the middle of Al-Qaeda," said tribunal prosecutor David Crane.
"Al-Qaeda has been in West Africa. It continues to be in West Africa and Charles Taylor has been harboring members of Al-Qaeda," Crane said.
Taylor harbored Al-Qaeda members, including those who participated in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, said Crane. "We also have activities as late as 6 April 2005," he said.
In late February Taylor flew to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where he met with one Francis Kalawalo, who later announced a bid for president in the October 2005 Liberian elections.
Taylor gave Kalawo money to support his presidential bid, Crane said.
"The key is that the money that was passed, we expect to be money that was sent from a bank in Dubai to Charles Taylor through a courier named Mohamed Mustafa Fahil who is an Al Qaeda operative," Crane said.
The money was delivered to Taylor in Calabar, the southwestern Nigerian town where he is spending his time in exile, Crane said.
Fadil "was known to many people as Mohamed Fattal, and they knew him as a Middle Eastern businessman since 1997" and was a frequent Taylor visitor, White added.
According to the investigator's information Taylor is "looking to leave and leave soon, particularly if in fact Guinea does fall and falls soon -- and you heard it from us," White said.
On May 4 the US House of Representatives passed a measure calling on Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to cancel Taylor's political asylum.
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