Taylor Caught

Wed, Mar 29, 2006 at 7:47:12 am PST

Fugitive former dictator Charles Taylor (who aided Al Qaeda in their attacks on US embassies in Africa) has been apprehended, and taken to Liberia to face war crimes charges.

ABUJA, Nigeria - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who vanished in Nigeria after authorities reluctantly agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal, was arrested trying to cross the border into Cameroon, Nigerian police said Wednesday. He then was flown back to Liberia.

Taylor was captured Tuesday night by security forces in the far northeastern border town of Gamboru, in Borno State, nearly 600 miles from the villa in southern Calabar from which he reportedly disappeared Monday night, Information Minister Frank Nweke said in a statement.

President Olusegun Obasanjo, on a visit to the United States, ordered Taylor’s “immediate repatriation” to Liberia, the statement said.

A plane carrying Taylor left from Maiduguri, capital of northwestern Borno state, for Liberia, a senior police official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.