Government freezes assets of Charles Taylor relatives and cronies

Liberia's transitional government has finally frozen the assets of former president Charles Taylor and several of his relatives and associates, seven months after such sanctions were ordered by the UN Security Council. "I have directed the Justice Minister to liaise with the courts to freeze all assets of those associates of Charles Taylor as demanded by the UN Security Council," Gyude Bryant, the chairman of the transitional government, said in a speech on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of his swearing in. An aide of Bryant told IRIN that Taylor's former residence in the eastern suburbs of Monrovia would be impounded, along with all funds in local banks belonging to the affected individuals. Curiously these include one former Taylor supporter who is now a senior figure within the broad-based transitional government; Edwin Snow, the managing director of the state-run Liberian Petroleum and Refining Corporation. Snowe is said to have provided funds for Taylor, who ignited Liberia's 14-year civil war by launching a rebellion in 1989. The former warlord became president in 1997, but rebel attacks on Monrovia forced him to quit power and go into exile in Nigeria in August 2003, paving the way for a peace agreement. The assets freeze extends to Taylor's present wife, Jewel Howard Taylor, who is now back in Liberia, and two of his former wives, Agnes Reeves-Taylor and Tupee Taylor. It also covers the former president's son, Chucky Taylor, who headed his father's elite military force, the Anti Terrorist Unit (ATU). Several former ministers and senators are covered by the measure, as well as a sprinkling of Taylor's former business associates. They include Victor Anatoljevich Bout, an eastern European dealer in arms and gems, and Gus Kouwenhoven, a Dutch businessman who lived in Liberia for over 20 years and owned Monrovia's Hotel Africa. Moussa Cisse, the former head of protocol at the presidency, who handled arms from diamond and timber sales on Taylor's behalf, was another of those sanctioned.