Army commander leaves the country

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor's army commander, General Benjamin Yeaten sneaked out of Liberia on Sunday amidst mounting calls for his trial in connection with the murder of two deputy ministers in June. Liberian Defense minister Daniel Chea however told reporters on Wednesday that Yeaten left the country with the permission of Interim President Moses Blah to attend to "family matters in Ghana." Blah is due to hand over to a two-year transitional government led by Monrovia businessman, Gyude Bryant on 14 October. Yeaten left as hectic preparations were going on for the hand over. Asked when Yeaten would return to Liberia, Chea said: "He is not a fugitive and has not been charged with any crime. If he does not return, that is his prerogative." John Yormie and Isaac Vaye, who were Taylor's deputy ministers of national security and public service, went missing in June. Their families accused General Yeaten to reporters of murdering the two ministers for alleged involvement in a failed coup against Taylor. On 22 September, the widows of the two ministers wrote to the Liberian Attorney General demanding General Yeaten's arrest and trial for murder. "We demand that Benjamin Yeaten turn over the corpses of our husbands for proper burial and that he be arrested and brought to the court of law to say why John Yormie and Isaac Vaye were murdered," the widows said in their letter. At the time of the alleged coup, Taylor was in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, attending the 4 June opening of the Liberian peace talks. He confirmed there had been a coup attempt against him but blamed his vice president Moses Blah, now his successor, for leading it. Blah was forced to resign and placed under house arrest for two weeks, before Taylor reinstated him. Shortly after, the two ministers disappeared. Security sources told IRIN on Tuesday that General Yeaten was seen dressed in an oversize dark blue coat and thick dark glasses at Liberia's Roberts International airport before he boarded a commercial flight on Sunday afternoon. He traveled with a son. Both Yormie and Vaye were followers of former warlord Prince Yormie Johnson, who now lives in exile in Nigeria. Johnson headed the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia between 1990-92, after breaking away from Taylor's own rebel movement, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia. On September 9, 1990, Johnson captured former Liberian President Samuel Doe and filmed a video of his torture and execution. Yormie was among those said to have been involved in Doe's killing. Besides being linked to Yormie and Vaye's murder, General Yeaten was accused as a principal suspect in the brutal murder of opposition leader Samuel Saye Dokie along with his family member in December 1997 five months into Taylor's presidency. As army commander during Taylor's government, General Yeaten is believed to have been the regime's hit man. In an interview with IRIN in August he however said he was a disciplined officer: "My soldiers know that if you rape or kill, we execute you. I have executed over 10 so far - in front of the public." Taylor was forced by international pressure to resign and leave Liberia for exile in Nigeria on 11 August. General Yeaten was retained by Blah as army commander. Human rights organisations have called for all those suspected of committing crimes in Liberia during Taylor's presidency, to be brought to book. Taylor himself is indicted by a special court in neighbouring Sierra Leone for war crimes allegedly committed while supporting rebels who fought a brutal war in that country between 1991-2001.