EJS: No Need to Try Taylor in Liberia

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer

MONROVIA, Liberia - President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said her country does not need to try former president Charles Taylor, who is already being tried by a U.N.-backed court for his role in atrocities committed in neighboring Sierra Leone.

"He doesn‘t need to be tried here," Sirleaf said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Let him go through the due process that has already charged him on so many counts."

I can see her logic. Since he's being tried elsewhere, why rock the boat, in a country this fragile? And in my daily dealings with Liberians, I certainly don't hear them calling for Taylor to be tried here. Yes, there's a movement in support of war crimes tribunals, but it's small, and mostly centered around the University. Justice is nice, but peace is nicer.