On Tuesday, former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of acting out the script handed him by the United States and Britain by letting him out of Nigeria, denying his whereabouts, and then sending police on his trail, despite an agreement to let him off the hook.

Back in 2006, most African leaders were opposed to turning Taylor over to the United Nations war tribunal controlled by Western powers.

Instead, they worked out an arrangement that saw him relinquish power in the then war-torn Liberia and take refuge in Nigeria, even with opposition by the civil rights community.

He was arrested just before crossing the border to Cameroon, hours after Nigeria announced his escape, amid rising tension that his return could enliven his support base back home and jeopardise the peace and democratic process in his country.

Taylor now faces murder charges and crimes against humanity before the Special Court for Sierra Leone at The Hague, sponsored by the UN.

Taylor told the court on Tuesday that the 11 charges against him, including murder, sexual slavery, and the use of child soldiers, were based on lies and misinformation. 

Prosecutors have accused him of arming and instructing rebels during 1991-2002 civil war in Sierra Leone in order to gain control of its rich diamond fields.

He, however, lamented in court that Obasanjo, whom he considered a longstanding friend, sold him out to the U.S. and Britain, both countries Taylor believes are behind his travails.

He once fingered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the coup that brought him to power in what he called the Washington’s attempt to stunt the rising profile of communism in Africa and grow liberal democracy and Western influence on the continent.

Under intense cross examination on Tuesday, Taylor said Obasanjo duped him to be arrested in 2006 after assuring him he could leave the country freely. 

“He lied to the world when he said I was escaping, and he knew nothing about it,” Taylor recounted. 

“Why did he lie? I don’t know, but as a brother and a friend, I think he ought to speak and tell the truth about it.” 

After Obasanjo said Liberia’s new government was free to take him into custody, Taylor suddenly disappeared while Obasanjo was on his way to Washington to meet former President George W. Bush. 

Then, equally suddenly, Abuja announced that it had arrested Taylor for trying to escape. 

He was captured, allegedly with huge sacks of cash, on the Nigerian border with Cameroon – some 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from Calabar, where he had been living in exile. 

Taylor had been given asylum in Nigeria as part of a deal to end Liberia’s civil war, though human rights groups accused him of breaking the terms of the deal by continuing to interfere in Liberian politics. 

On Tuesday, he said he hoped he would live to look Obasanjo in the face one day and ask him to tell the truth about what happened. 

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that Taylor appeared defiant on what was the final day of his testimony in The Hague. 

He claimed he was a victim of an intelligence plot involving the U.S. and British governments that supplied weapons to the region in an attempt to topple him – as part of a plan by Washington to gain control of West African oil reserves. 

The U.S. position was that “we cannot have anyone in Liberia that we don’t think is going to dance to our tune,” he stated. 

He also said he is a peace broker and repeated denials that he supplied arms to Sierra Leonean rebels in exchange for blood diamonds. 

The prosecution, which will now cross-examine Taylor, pledged to challenge the accuracy, truthfulness, and completeness of his testimony. 

In September, Taylor told the court the case against him was built on lies and misinformation, and he denied he had commanded and armed rebel groups that killed and tortured tens of thousands of civilians.

Taylor is the first African leader to stand trial for war crimes.

An estimated 500,000 people were the victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities during the war, with some of the worst crimes carried out by child soldiers, who were drugged to desensitise them to the horror of their actions.

It is “very, very, very unfortunate that the prosecution – because of disinformation, misinformation, lies, and rumours – would associate me with such titles or descriptions,” Taylor riposted when asked by his attorney what he thought of the charges.

“I am a father of 14 children, grandchildren. I have fought all my life to do what I thought was right in the interests of justice and fair play.

“I resent that characterisation of me. It is false, it is malicious.”

Wearing a grey double-breasted suit and dark glasses, Taylor spoke confidently as he introduced himself to the panel of three Judges as the 21st President of the Republic of Liberia. 

It was his first time on the witness stand.

Prosecutors alleged that Taylor led and armed rebels to help him gain control of Sierra Leone and strip it of its vast mineral wealth, particularly so-called “blood diamonds” mined using slave labour.

Taylor  countered that the case was aimed at removing him from power.

“This whole case has been about let’s get Taylor. Haven’t they had their pound of flesh yet? I am not guilty of all these charges,” he fired back.

Taylor’s case has been hailed as a groundbreaking sign that the international community will hold autocrats responsible for human rights violations that occurred under their watch.

However, getting such leaders to court is not easy.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, on charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur, but he refuses to recognise the court. 

Most African leaders have supported al-Bashir in his defiance and refuse to arrest him.

Turkey invited him to the Conference of Islamic States summit which held on Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul, despite opposition by the European Union (EU). 

Al-Bashir did not attend, however, hampered by the ICC warrant on him – even though Turkey is not a signatory to the ICC statute.

Recently, the African Union (AU) rose from a summit in Libya restating its opposition to the arrest warrant, and saying no member country would turn in Al-Bashir. 

China and Russia, both members of the five-member UN Security Council, have also worked against the ICC’s  categorisation of the killings and maiming in Darfur as genocide. 

Anneke Galama of Fatal Transactions – a non-government group that lobbies for the fair distribution of profits from Africa’s natural resources – said the Taylor’s case also is a landmark in the fight against conflict diamonds.

“The Taylor process shows we don’t allow diamonds any more as a way to finance violence and human rights abuses,” she stressed.

Taylor’s testimony aims to persuade Judges that the 91 prosecution witnesses called since January 2008 are lying.

Some of those witnesses claimed Taylor shipped weapons to rebels in rice sacks, in contravention of an arms embargo, and in return got diamonds smuggled out of mines in Sierra Leone in mayonnaise jars.

Taylor flatly denied the charge. 

“Never, ever did I receive – whether it is mayonnaise or coffee or whatever jar – any diamonds from the RUF (Revolutionary United Front),” he said, referring to the rebel group he allegedly supported. “It is a lie, a diabolical lie.” 

Griffiths said on Monday that Taylor will testify about his “strenuous efforts to bring peace in Sierra Leone.” 

Taylor completed an economics degree in the U.S. and military training in Libya before rising to power as a rebel warlord in Liberia and being elected President in 1997.

He is accused of supporting the RUF in Sierra Leone in its fight to depose President Joseph Momoh and his successors. 

Prosecutors alleged that Taylor trained in Libya with the RUF leader, Foday Sankoh. 

But he denied ever plotting with Sankoh to invade “that friendly country,” Sierra Leone. 

He also denied ordering rebels to hack off the hands of their enemies – the signature atrocity of the Sierra Leonean conflict, of which two Nigerian journalists and activists are victims.

“It is wrong. It never happened in Liberia, I would never ever have accepted that in Liberia, and we would never have encouraged that in Sierra Leone,” Taylor insisted.