Africa's worst war criminal to face justice?

This essay is part of a (more or less) weekly feature on this blog that presents interesting stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, Israel and Iraq.

In what has the potential to be a significant advance in the cause of international justice, Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has formally asked Nigeria to extradite Charles Taylor. The disgraced former dictator has been in exile for the last few years after being forced out of office. The one-time warlord has been indicted for war crimes by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, where Taylor was accused of arming and funding that country's notorious rebel group, the RUF.

When I was in Guinea, I had Liberian and Sierra Leonian friends and acquaintances who had their lives destroyed, their property ruined, their relatives killed by Taylor's troops or those funded and armed by Taylor. As a result, I loathe him more than any living creature. Taylor has caused, either directly or through proxies, unimaginable death, destruction, instability and violence. Simply put, he is responsible for ruining more lives than any individual alive. It will be a great day for Africa and for humanity when this detestable scumbag is finally subjected to long overdue justice.

Nigeria's president has repeatedly guaranteed to hand over Taylor upon the request of a democratically-elected Liberian leader. Now that this has occurred, all that is left is for President Obasanjo to keep his promise.

In similar good news, the International Criminal Court has begun its first case. The ICC, which was opposed by the Bush administration, arrested a warlord in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on a charge of conscripting and enlisting children and actively using them.

UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman, a former Bush cabinet official, praised the ICC's action. “It is important to protect children from being recruited and used in armed conflict. "Wars must never be fought by children. Whether children are forcibly recruited, join armed groups in order to escape poverty or hunger, or enlist to actively support a cause, the first loss is their childhood.”