Britain May Accept Taylor if Convicted

Ex-President Charles Taylor faces 11 counts of crimes against humanity for his role in formenting violence throughout West Africa. (Schalk Van Zuydam - AP)

LONDON -- The British government said Thursday it was willing to jail former Liberian President Charles Taylor if he is convicted of war crimes, breaking an impasse that had stalled his trial before an international tribunal.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the decision showed "the U.K.'s commitment to international justice."

Taylor was captured in Nigeria in March and brought to Sierra Leone, where he pleaded innocent before a U.N.-backed war crimes court in April to charges stemming from Sierra Leone's civil war. No trial date had been set pending a decision on where he might be jailed.

The Sierra Leone court had asked the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court to host the trial, fearing Taylor's trial in Africa might revive regional instability.

The Netherlands agreed, on condition that a third country jail Taylor if he is convicted or take him in if acquitted. Denmark, Austria and Sweden had all rejected requests to jail Taylor.

In a letter to British lawmakers, Beckett said the international community must not fail West Africans "by asking them to run the risk associated with his continued presence in Freetown" in Sierra Leone.

"This is a welcome and significant step to fulfill the conditions set by the Dutch government for Charles Taylor's trial to take place," said Peter Andersen, spokesman for the Sierra Leone war crimes court.

Liberia's justice minister, Frances Johnson-Morris, said Britain's move was "in the interest of peace and security in the region."

The Dutch government welcomed Britain's announcement, saying conditions hosting Taylor's trial at The Hague have now been met.

"This is a big step, a crucial step," Herman van Gelderen, spokesman for Foreign Minister Ben Bot, told The Associated Press. "We think it's important that people suspected of crimes like these _ terrible crimes, war crimes _ should be held accountable, should be tried, and if we can play a role we are ready to play a role."

Taylor faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from his alleged backing of Sierra Leonean rebels, who terrorized victims by chopping off their arms, legs, ears and lips during the 1991-2002 civil war. Although the charges refer only to Sierra Leone, Taylor also is accused of fomenting violence in his homeland and elsewhere in West Africa.

Taylor launched a Liberian insurgency in 1989 and won elections that handed him the presidency in 1997. Rebels took up arms against him three years later, and Taylor fled to Nigeria in 2003.