WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Tuesday demanded that Nigeria hand former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor over to a court where he faces war crimes charges, saying the exiled dictator remains a threat both to West Africa and to U.S. security.
A resolution approved 421-1 states that Nigeria should ``expeditiously transfer `` Taylor to the jurisdiction of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he has been indicted on 17 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law.
The State Department has said that it is working to get Taylor turned over to the court, but the resolution was a reflection that some in Congress think the Bush administration isn't pushing hard enough to bring him to justice.
Last week, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., wrote Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging that Taylor be transferred to the U.N.-backed court.
``Permitting an indicted war criminal to escape justice from a United Nations and United States supported tribunal undermines Security Council resolutions and damages our country's efforts to promote and protect human rights around the world,'' they wrote. Leahy plans to offer a resolution in the Senate similar to that passed in the House.
The court has accused Taylor of crimes linked to his backing of the notorious rebel group Revolutionary United Front during a 10-year civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. The rebels have been accused of mass murder, sexual slavery, abduction and conscription of children and the cutting off of limbs.
Nigeria gave Taylor asylum in August, 2003, as rebels in his own country converged on the Liberian capital of Monrovia. As a condition of that asylum, he was to terminate all involvement in Liberian politics.
But lawmakers said he has violated that condition and is menace to Liberia as it prepares for elections this fall. ``The stability of West Africa and many innocent lives may be in jeopardy if Charles Taylor is allowed to avoid justice for the horrendous crimes he committed during the Sierra Leone civil war,'' said Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the top Democrat on the International Relations Committee.
Rep. Sue Kelly, R-N.Y., a sponsor of the resolution with Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., said Taylor remains a ``clear and present danger to West Africa and U.S. interests'' because he has served as a middleman between Al-Qaida and illicit diamond traders in Sierra Leone.
Nigeria accepted Taylor in 2003 at the request of the United States and other nations seeking to avoid further bloodshed in wartorn Liberia. Lantos said Nigeria and the United States enjoy good relations, and Nigeria ``should not jeopardize this relationship for the likes of Charles Taylor.''
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