Charles Taylor's trial for murder, rape and slavery begins in Hague - Independent Online Edition > Africa

Charles Taylor's trial for murder, rape and slavery begins in Hague - Independent Online Edition > Africa: "The former child soldiers of Sierra Leone will be rivetted to their radios this morning as the war crimes trial begins in The Hague of one of the most-feared men in Africa, the former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Mr Taylor faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly backing the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group that killed, maimed and raped thousands of Sierra Leoneans during a war that lasted 11 years and ended in 2002 after British military intervention.

The RUF was notorious for its mass recruitment of child soldiers who were trained to cut off their victims' limbs with machetes. Mr Taylor is being tried in The Hague by the Special Court for Sierra Leone because both the Liberian and Sierra Leonean governments fear that a court case in west Africa might create instability by rousing Mr Taylor's supporters, many of whom are unruly former child soldiers." Read complete post here.