As  the first landmark trial of one of Africa’s  sitting President comes to a close  in The Hague, Charles  McArthur Taylor’s  legal counsel Courtenay  Griffiths is soliciting a Pan African populist support from Ghana and others countries.

Speaking on an Accra-based Metro TV current Affairs program ‘Good Evening Ghana’ recently, Mr. Taylor’s legal counsel bemoaned that he has no confidence in the court trying the former Liberian President.

To establish his case, Griffiths propagated that Mr. Charles Taylor’s abduction and trial was a ploy by the imperialist system of the United State of America to ‘hit back’ at his client.

The ICC has charged the former Liberian President with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and war crimes committed as per his alleged role played in the Sierra Leonean civil war.

After a protracted trial in which more than 200 witnesses testified against Mr.Taylor, the ICC says it has completed its trial of Charles Taylor and it is now given the accused 40 days to open his defense. After the defense the ICC would now hang down its judgment.

According to Griffiths, the trial of his client at the international court was a joint ploy by both the US and Great Britain to by all means incarcerate Taylor and wondered why the trial was not taking place on the soil since the war occurred in Africa.

Mr. Griffiths pointed out that the location of the trial made it almost impossible for the African continent to have access to the proceeding, adding that if his client was tried in Africa, there would have been a lot of publicity from the African media.

He claimed his Taylor was not guilty of any of the 11 charges leveled against him, saying he was being tried for crimes he did not commit.

In the view of Mr. Griffiths, the US was hunting Mr. Taylor because he refused to allow them access to Liberia’s resources and rather chose to do business with China.

However, Dr. Kwesi Aning, a Security Analyst at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Center in Ghana (KAIPKC) in Accra did not agree with Griffiths.

He observed that the objective of Griffiths’ visit to Ghana was not convincing enough, noting that Griffiths failed to state the damage the war had caused in Sierra Leone because of Taylor’s support.

He stressed that if Charles Taylor were tried in Africa, he would still have been found guilty anyway.

”From where I sit, Taylor is guilty. Mr. Taylor knows too much about other West African leaders, and if he speaks, there will be disturbances in West Africa”, Dr. Aning said.

Speaking via telephone into the program, Dr. Aning directed Taylor’s counsel to go and visit the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana, and he would see the proof for himself and hear from Liberians and Sierra Leoneans refugees there.

Dr. Aning agreed that Charles Taylor was being tried for the crimes he committed against Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Dr. Aning argued further and reminded that before Taylor led the war in Liberia, he visited Ghana, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire contending that Taylor did not enter Liberia alone as he gathered about 75 Sierra Leoneans and others army generals from some West African countries.

Dr. Aning recollected Charles Taylor’s famous warning to nine African leaders before he left Liberia; “Please be careful; today it s me and it could be you tomorrow. God willing, I will be back”.

By Jos Garneo Cephas – Contributing Writer