U-Charles Taylor

U-Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor (wabelethwa mhlazi-28 kuTjhirhweni 1948) ngusopolotiki wangaphambilini we-Liberia. Wasebenza njengomongameli wama-22 we-Liberia kusukela mhlazi-2 kuRhoboyi wee-1997 bekwaba kulapho atjhiya khona umsebenzi mhlana ali-11 kuRhoboyi wee-2003 ngebanga lePi yesiBili ye-Liberia nokukhula kwegandelelo leentjhabatjhaba. Ngemva kokutjhiya isikhundla, watholakala anecala lobulelesi bepi obenziwe ePini yomKhaya ye-Sierra Leone, begodu wagwetjwa iminyaka ema-50 ejele.

Born in Arthington, Montserrado County, Liberia, Taylor earned a degree at Bentley College in the United States before returning to Liberia to work in the government of Samuel Doe. After being removed for embezzlement and imprisoned by President Doe, Taylor escaped prison in 1989. He eventually arrived in Libya, where he was trained as a guerrilla fighter. He returned to Liberia in 1989 as the head of a Libyan-backed rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, to overthrow the Doe government, initiating the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996). Following Doe's execution, Taylor gained control of a large portion of the country and became one of the most prominent warlords in Africa. His forces, along with those of other rival warlords such as ULIMO, were notorious for committing widespread human rights abuses and atrocities during the civil war. Following a peace deal that ended the war, Taylor was elected president in the 1997 general election as a member of the National Patriotic Party (NPP).

Ngesikhathi asesikhundleni, u-Taylor wasolwa ngamacala wepi kanye nobugebengu obujamelene nobuntu ngebanga lokusekela kwakhe isiqhema samavukelambuso se -Revolutionary United Front (RUF) e- Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). Ekhaya, u-Taylor walinga ukuqinisa amandla ngeendlela zobukhosi ezifana nokuhlanza amasotja nokwenza udlame ebantwini abaphikisana naye kwezepolotiki, okufaka hlangana umzamo wokubulala umlawuli we-ULIMO wangaphambilini u-Roosevelt Johnson, okwadosela ekutheni kube nokurarana okunobudlova e-Monrovia ngo-1998 . Njengomphumela, ukuphikiswa kurhulumende wakhe kwakhula, kwagcina ngokuqubuka kwePi yesiBili ye-Liberia ngo-1999. Ngo-2003, u-Taylor besele alahlekelwe kulawula indawo enengi yemaphandleni begodu wamangalelwa ngokusemthethweni yiKhotho eKhethekileko ye-Sierra Leone . Ngalowo mnyaka, walisa umsebenzi ngebanga lokugandeleleka kwamazwe ngamazwe begodu waya e-Nigeria. Ngomnyaka ka-2006, umengameli we-Liberia, u-Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, wabawa ngokusemthethweni ukuthunyelwa kwakhe. Wavalelwa ziimphathimandla ze-UN e- Sierra Leone bese wavalelwa e- Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden e- The Hague, alindele ukuthonisiswa yiKhotho eKhethekileko. Watholakala anecala ngoMrhayili 2012 kiwo woke amacala alitjhumi nanye abekwe yiKhotho eKhethekileko, kufaka hlangana ukuthusa, ukubulala nokudlwengula.

In May 2012, Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Reading the sentencing statement, presiding Judge Richard Lussick said: "The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting as well as planning some of the most heinous and brutal crimes in recorded human history."