The prosecutor for the UN-backed special court in Sierra Leone, Desmond de Silva, on Sunday asked Nigeria to arrest exiled former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Silva said in a statement obtained here that he had asked Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo "to take all necessary steps to ensure that Charles Taylor is unable to abscond."

Obasanjo on Saturday agreed to return Taylor, accused of 17 counts of crimes against humanity by the court, to his homeland's new administration after two years of pressure from the international community, especially from the US government. But he did not say when the extradition will take place.

"Until the indicted war criminal Charles Taylor is in the hands of Liberian authorities to whom Nigeria is making Taylor available for collection, the spotlight of the international community will be upon Nigeria," Silva said.

"In particular, 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."

Taylor has been living in Nigeria since August 2003 when he accepted Nigeria's offer of safe exile as part of a deal, backed by the US government, to end Liberia's 14-year civil war that killed about 250,000 people, about 8 percent of the west African country's population.

Originally, Obasanjo had pledged to protect Taylor with all his might if Taylor stayed out of Liberian politics, and described the reported 2-million-dollar universal offer by the US to capture Taylor as being tantamount to state-sponsored terrorism.

But Obasanjo's attitude towards the Taylor issue changed in late 2004, when reports came out saying he wanted to amend the constitution to be eligible for an extended or third term, which was alleged to be opposed by the US government.

As described in Saturday's announcement, which came before Obasanjo's visit to Washington scheduled for next week, Obasanjo chose to agree that "Taylor can only be turned over, on request, to a democratically-elected government of Liberia at a time that such a government considers appropriate."

Taylor stoked a bloody civil war at home, but it is in neighboring Sierra Leone that he is wanted on 17 counts of crimes against humanity for supporting rebels in return for "bloody diamonds" during its 1991-2002 civil war that killed some 50,000 people.

With his release, it's believed that the 58-year-old ex-warlord, who now lives in the southeastern Nigerian city of Calabar with about 70 relations and aides, will be sent directly to the court in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown by the Liberian authorities.

Silva had on Saturday in a statement called it "a most significant day for those who support the cause of international justice around the world, and for the victims of so many conflicts who have suffered so grievously."

This sounds good news for victims, but some would argue that Obasanjo's decision might be another obstacle to peace processes across Africa in the future as it influenced thinking of warlords that they have to continue fighting to avoid being brought to book for their crimes.

Taylor's spokesman Sylvester Paasewe predicted that African warlords might no longer have faith in "an African solution."

Obasanjo himself did not want to be seen as having broken his word and said he had consulted the African leaders involved in the 2003 deal after receiving a formal request from his Liberian counterpart Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on March 5, who said the time was opportune" to extradite Taylor.
 
"With no substantive objection other than timing and continued peace in Liberia raised by those other heads of state involved in the 2003 arrangement ... the government of Liberia is free to take former president Charles Taylor into its custody," he said.

Nigeria's leading newspaper The Guardian had reported on Friday that Taylor had begun preparations for his extradition home as about 20 of his relations and aides had left Calabar for an unknown destination. The report also quoted sources as saying that Taylor had put in order all his cars in preparation for his departure.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2006)