By Charlotte Attwood BBC Africa, Monrovia|
(BBC Africa) – Liberia’s former President Charles Taylor is currently serving a 50-year sentence for war crimes in a prison in the British city of Durham. But is he using that as a base to interfere in the elections in his homeland next Tuesday?
“If he was to come back today, I’d roll out the red carpet,” said Justin Luther Cassell, a 32-year-old man sitting outside the Pray for Peace Business Centre in Gbartala, central Liberia.
Gathered round on plastic chairs, drinking beer and discussing the forthcoming Liberian elections, the men here are clearly frustrated.
This was Charles Taylor’s rebel headquarters in the 1990s.
The former military base may be crumbling, with buildings almost completely engulfed by the jungle, but Taylor’s name is still as strong as ever in Bong County.
More than five years since the former president was sentenced for war crimes committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, people in his heartland are still harking back to the old days.
Source: BBC African Service
