Sierra Leone sends 3 men to US to face drug-smuggling charges

September 16th, 2009 SAfrica police bust drug smuggling syndicateJOHANNESBURG — South African police say they've busted an international drug smuggling syndicate housed in a warehouse with African souvenirs. South Africa's prosecuting authority says three Britons face drug smuggling charges.

September 12th, 2009 Sierra Leone police arrest 2 capsized survivorsFREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Police say they have arrested two attendants who survived after an overloaded wooden boat capsized off the coast of Sierra Leone, killing at least 30. At least 221 people, including many schoolchildren, are still missing.

September 10th, 2009 221 missing after Sierra Leone boat capsizesFREETOWN, Sierra Leone — More than 200 people, including many schoolchildren returning from holidays, remained missing Thursday, a day after a wooden boat capsized at sea and left at least eight dead, police said. Some 39 passengers have been rescued so far off the coast of the West African nation, police official Ibrahim Samura said.

September 9th, 2009 Sierra Leone boat capsizes, 8 deadFREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Police in Sierra Leone say a boat carrying 150 people has capsized on a river near the coast of the West African nation, killing at least eight people. Deputy Police Inspector General Morie Lengor says 36 people have been rescued so far.

September 9th, 2009 FREETOWN - At least 80 children were killed when the boat in which they were travelling capsised off the coast of Sierra Leone capital during a storm, media reports said. A total of 150 people, including children were on board the vessel at the time of the accident Wednesday.

August 6th, 2009 Ex-Liberian prez wants to hear US radio interceptsAMSTERDAM — Former Liberian President Charles Taylor called Thursday on the United States and Britain to declassify radio intercepts he says would help clear him of war crimes charges. Taylor was concluding his fourth week of testimony in his defense against 11 charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and torture, for aiding rebels in Sierra Leone.

July 30th, 2009 Ex-Liberian chief blames UN envoy for false chargeAMSTERDAM — Former Liberian President Charles Taylor on Thursday blamed the beginning of his legal troubles on a former U.N. envoy who he claimed misidentified Liberians fighting in Sierra Leone as his men.

July 27th, 2009 Charles Taylor denies sending arms to Sierra LeoneAMSTERDAM — Former Liberian President Charles Taylor pointed to impassible roads and his country's own mineral wealth Monday to deny key testimony at his war crimes trial that he had traded arms for diamonds in Sierra Leone. Taylor, starting his third week of testimony at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, said neither of the two roads that led to the Sierra Leone border could support vehicles laden with weapons, as alleged by a prosecution witness.

July 20th, 2009 Ex-Liberian leader denies invading Sierra LeoneTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — Former Liberian President Charles Taylor denied on Monday that he had played any part in forming the guerrilla force that invaded Sierra Leone in the early 1990s. In his second week of testimony at his war crimes trial, Taylor was categorical in rejecting the testimony of prosecution witnesses that he attended the meeting that planned the rebel incursion into Sierra Leone, that he trained the rebel forces and that he commanded their operations.

July 16th, 2009 Taylor says his men trained to avoid atrocitiesTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has told a war crimes court his band of rebel fighters were trained in Libya to avoid atrocities as they swept into the country in a 1989 revolution. Taylor is on the witness stand for the third day at his trial for allegedly commanding rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war.

July 13th, 2009 Taylor begins his Sierra Leone war crimes defenseTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — Lawyers for Charles Taylor began his defense against war crimes charges Monday, arguing that the former Liberian president was not responsible for the murder, rape and mutilation of civilians by rebels in Sierra Leone and should not be blamed simply out of disgust at the atrocities. Taylor, the first African head of state to be tried by an international court, is charged with 11 crimes including murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, using child soldiers and spreading terror.

July 13th, 2009 A timeline of Charles Taylor's rise and fallJan. 28, 1948: Charles Taylor born in Arthington, Liberia, into a family descended from freed American slaves.

July 12th, 2009 Ex-Liberian leader to begin his war crimes defenseTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — For a year, prosecution witnesses accused former Liberian President Charles Taylor of atrocities ranging from cannibalism to commanding Sierra Leone rebels who hacked off villagers' limbs, and of selling weapons and ammunition in exchange for so-called blood diamonds. Now Taylor is giving his version of events at his trial before the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.

July 12th, 2009 Charles Taylor to begin his war crimes defenseTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — Charles Taylor begins his defense Monday against charges he led rebels in Sierra Leone who murdered, raped and mutilated villagers in a brutal terror campaign during the country's civil war. The former Liberian president is accused of commanding and arming the rebels from his presidential palace in Monrovia.

May 4th, 2009 War crimes court: No early acquittal for TaylorTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — War crimes judges say they have dismissed a motion to acquit former Liberian President Charles Taylor because he may have been responsible for mass murder, rape and mutilations in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. The decision by the Special Court for Sierra Leone means Taylor must now present his defense on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the West African nation.