[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23771-23772]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       CHARLES TAYLOR AND LIBERIA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise today to voice my strong support for 
a provision included by Senator Gregg in the Commerce-Justice-State 
portion of the emergency supplemental which provides $2 million for 
rewards to anyone who brings Charles Taylor before the Special Court 
for Sierra Leone.
  I commend the senior Senator from New Hampshire for his strong 
leadership on this issue. Just a few months ago, when the Special 
Prosecutor for Special Court unsealed his indictment against Charles 
Taylor, he and I came to the Senate floor together to commend this 
strong and decisive action.
  In that colloquy and in other floor statements, I described why it is 
so important for West Africa, as well as the cause of international 
justice, to bring Charles Taylor before the Special Court, I will not 
repeat all of that here today, but I just want to make a couple of 
additional points. Since his exile to Nigeria, press reports have 
revealed that Charles Taylor continues to try to foment chaos and 
instability in Liberia. There is no doubt that he wants to return, and 
will do so if given the opportunity.

[[Page 23772]]

  Charles Taylor needs to come before the Special Court. This needs to 
happen immediately. Allowing him to remain in Nigeria is wrong. It is 
impeding peace and prosperity in a region that has endured tremendous 
suffering over the past decade.
  The provision included in the supplemental can help get him before 
the Special Court. I look forward to working with Senators Gregg and 
Hollings to keep this provision in the final version of the 
supplemental conference report.
  I also want to point out that a humanitarian disaster continues to 
exist in Liberia, where thousands are without food, shelter, or basic 
medical care. Even after emergency needs are addressed, Liberia will 
require substantial amounts of additional assistance, as three-fourths 
of its citizens are impoverished, the unemployment rate is 85 percent, 
and seven out of ten of combatants involved in recent fighting in 
Liberia are child soldiers.
  I am worried that the world's attention is focused elsewhere and we 
will simply forget about the plight of Liberia's people. In the coming 
weeks, I hope that we can find some money in this supplemental to 
address these critical needs. Even a tiny percentage of the more than 
$87 billion in this bill would save many lives.

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