Dictator of the Month:
February 2002Dictator of the Month:
February 2002
| Charles
McArthur Taylor
Take me to the picture gallery Fact Sheet Name: Charles McArthur Taylor
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Biography
Charles McArthur (Ghankay)
Taylor was born on 28 January, 1948 in
Arthington, Liberia, to Nelson and Zoe Taylor; he has 6 siblings. His
father was an Americo-Liberian, hence a descendent of the freed slaves
that founded Liberia after the Civil War, which are considered an elite
class, while his mother was of local, tribal descent. As a young man, Taylor was very interested in the
history of slave trade and US-Liberian relations; between 1972 and 1977 he
attended various colleges in the United States before graduating from
Bentley College in Massachusetts with a BA in Economics in 1977. During
his studies he had several jobs, including auto mechanic, truck driver and
security guard. In 1979 Taylor led a demonstration at the Liberian
Mission to the United Nations in NY protesting against William Tolbert,
the then-president of Liberia, who was on a state visit to the US at the
time. Strangely, instead of simply having the protestors arrested, Tolbert
personally faced Taylor and debated him publicly; even more oddly, Tolbert
lost the debate. Taylor then became overconfident and stated that he would
seize the Mission and was then arrested but later released and invited
back to Liberia by Tolbert in 1980. On April 12, 1980 Taylor supported Samuel Kanyon
Doe’s bloody coup, in which Tolbert was murdered and Doe seized power,
making him the first president
of Liberia of local tribal heritage (i.e., non-Americo-Liberian). After
Doe’s seizure of power, a series of reprisals against the Americo-Liberians
ensued, resulting in the death or mutilation of an unspecified amount of
people. Taylor was appointed to a high position in Doe’s
government in the General Services Agency of Liberia, a position that left
him in charge of purchasing for the Liberian government, but was sacked in
May 1983 for embezzling almost $1.000.000 and sending the funds to an
American bank account. He quickly fled the country only to be arrested a
year later in Boston, MA. During his incarceration, Taylor escaped from
prison in September 1985 by allegedly sawing through the bars of the
prison. For next the four years, it is unknown where he spent his time,
although there is speculation that he was granted asylum in Libya- this
has never been proven. Doe’s incompetent and corrupt government set the
stage for the coup that followed when Taylor returned to Liberia on 25
December, 1989, establishing a guerilla insurgent army (National Patriotic
Front of Liberia or NPLF) outside the capital city of Monrovia that began
to take control of the country; actually a total of seven rival guerilla
groups were fighting for control of the country. He regularly employed
child soldiers who were sometimes outlandishly dressed in wigs and
costumes, and often under the influence of drugs. As time went on, Doe’s
forces lost more control over the country until July, 1990, when the NPLF
entered Monrovia. The NPLF had by this time split into 2 factions, led by
Prince Johnson and Taylor respectively; Johnson captured Doe and brutally
murdered him. For the next 5 years a civil war ensued between
Johnson’s and Taylor’s factions until a peace treaty was signed in
1995, after about 200,000 deaths and 1,000,000 people were displaced from
their homes. In 1991 Taylor’s forces also assisted the rebels in the
civil war in Sierra Leone that resulted in thousands of atrocities. Taylor became president of Liberia after winning the
national elections in 1997, winning about three-quarters of the popular
vote, although the elections were noted as probably the most legitimate in
the history of Liberia, Taylor was still accused of strong-arming the
electorate. Peace never returned to Liberia after his election, and during
his entire reign, he was forced to fight against pockets of insurgency
against his government, with about 60% of the country in the hands of
insurgents by 2003. As president he was known for his flamboyant style
and overtly quasi-religious hypocrisy. Upon being charged by the UN of
being a gun-runner and diamond smuggler during his presidency, he publicly
appeared in all white robes and begged God for forgiveness (while denying
the charges). He has also been paraphrased to have said that “Jesus
Christ was accused of being a murderer in his time”. Numerous allegations have been at leveled at Taylor
since he took office in 1997, including continuing to assist rebel forces
in Sierra Leone with weapon sales in exchange for diamonds, and helping in
act of atrocities against civilians that have left many thousands dead or
mutilated, with unknown numbers of people abducted and tortured. Moreover,
he has been criticized for the widespread conscription of children as
soldiers in the war in Sierra Leone. Reports put the number of deaths in
the civil war in Sierra Leone at about 50,000. Taylor resigned as president on 11 August, 2003 after
increasing pressure from President George W. Bush; he was granted asylum
by Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo and at the time this article
was written (Dec 2004), he continues to live in a compound in Nigeria
surrounded by bodyguards. He has been indicted by the UN for his
involvement in war crimes in Sierra Leone and is wanted by Interpol. The economic situation in Liberia, after almost 15
years of constant war, was ruinous at the time of Taylor’s resignation
with starvation and disease running rampant and almost one third of the
population homeless. On the lighter side, Taylor is an avid fan or both
table and lawn tennis. Original article written by www.dictatorofthemonth.com Sources: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2963086.stm
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