By Alphonso Zeon at The Hague.
Despite assurances that he would testify at the Special Court for Sierra Leone
which subpoenaed him early this month, former Liberian president, Moses Blah
failed to show up last week at the trial of his former boss Charles Taylor at The
Hague.
Special Court’s Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp told this reporter that he had
been in touch with Mr Blah who had asked for more time because of medical
considerations and his wife being out of Liberia.
“...we want to make sure the situation with his security, the situation with his
family and his health are well in hand before he travels,” Mr Rapp said, adding
that they were following what he had been saying to the press one of which was
that he was willing to be a witness in the Taylor trial.
Mr Rapp quoted Mr Blah as saying that he was neither for nor against anyone
but that he was going to say “the truth”. The truth, Mr Rapp said, would “serve
the interest of justice”.
The prosecution are offering Mr Blah as a witness “to prove our case and he’s
given us statements in the past and because we think that his testimony will be
helpful to the Prosecution”, according to the chief prosecutor.
The former Liberian vice president who became president after the resignation of
Mr Taylor, faces a jail term is he fails to show up in court.
This report is courtesy of the BBC World Service Trust and Search for Common
Ground.
Profile of Moses Blah
By Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC, Monrovia
If you did not know Moses Blah before, yet wanted to track him down by simply relying on the ambience and glamour that are normally associated with high-profile African political leaders, you would risk disappointment.
This is a very simple man.
He likes to drive himself around, especially when on private business, and at times goes without a single bodyguard.
When Liberian President Charles Taylor lost his Vice President Enoch Dogolea in June 2000, and the public were speculating about who could possibly replace him many people - including myself - did not think of Moses Blah.
Frankly, he was the furthest person from our minds.
His name first came to prominence nearly 14 years ago, when Charles Taylor began the biggest armed insurrection in the country’s history in order to unseat the regime of the late Samuel Doe.
Mr Blah was a part of all this.
He was born on April 18, 1947 in Toweh Town, a Gio-speaking hamlet in north-eastern Nimba County, close to the border with the Ivory Coast.
He completed his secondary education at Tappeta Public school in 1967.
His further education included stints in Hamburg, Germany and at a military college in Tajura, Libya, from 1985 to 1989.
At the end of that year, he joined a few hundred exiled Liberians led by Mr Taylor to wage the war against the Doe government.
When Mr Taylor’s National Patriotic Front had succeeded in taking control of the whole of Liberia except Monrovia, Mr Blah served in the Front in several capacities, including inspector general, adjutant general and Mr Taylor’s special envoy.
Before he was appointed vice president in July 2000, Mr Blah had been Liberia’s ambassador to Libya and Tunisia for three years.
A rather unusual friction broke out between Mr Blah and Mr Taylor in June this year(2003), over an allegation that the former had intended to take state power through the influence of the United States embassy here.
It was an allegation which Mr Blah vehemently denied.
Photo: Charles Taylor and Moses Blah in happier times.
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