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President frees alleged supporters of former rival warlord

    ABIDJAN

    Liberian President Charles Taylor this week released 21 alleged supporters of a former rival warlord who had been jailed after a shootout nearly four years ago with security forces in the capital, Monrovia.

    In a nationwide address on Tuesday, Taylor announced that he had granted clemency to the 21 government officials and military officers. They had been arrested and convicted of treason after former faction leader Roosevelt Johnson and some of his supporters sought refuge in the US Embassy in Monrovia following clashes with government forces in Monrovia in September 1998. Johnson later left the country.

    During Liberia's civil war (1989-1997), Johnson had led ULIMO-J, a faction comprising mainly people from his Krahn ethnic group. The prisoners released this week were also Krahn.

    Taylor said that the release demonstrated his "commitment to true reconciliation" following the civil war. His presidential pardon came just before the start of talks between Liberia's government, other political groups, civil society organisations and rebels on Friday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. A national reconciliation conference is to expected to be held in Monrovia later this year.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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