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The headquarters of Liberia's two main intelligence agencies look like the other government buildings in downtown Monrovia: they're falling apart. Still, they were a center of attention in the waning days of Charles Taylor's disastrous regime. Apparently trying to buff his brutal image just before his forced departure, Taylor ordered the release of at least 50 political prisoners--none ever formally charged with crimes--held in the complex. Some who staggered out of the complex, free men again, loudly praised Jesus and the International Committee of the Red Cross for keeping them alive. Others were speechless: Mohammed Sharif, 25, became catatonic after being tortured three months ago, his jail mates said. When his cell door was finally opened, he didn't recognize his wailing sister. Many other prisoners were emaciated, having been fed only a handful of rice daily during their incarcerations, which for some lasted two years. Guards frog- marched one skeletal figure outside the gates of the intelligence headquarters; he collapsed in a heap on the sidewalk, clutching a ratty paperback Bible, as a gathering crowd gawked. A Red Cross ambulance drove up and took him away. "Who will pay?" shouted one onlooker. "Who will pay?"
Sadly, it may not be Taylor himself. Like other African strongmen before him, the U.S.-educated rogue--who terrorized Liberians into voting him into office in 1997 (his campaign slogan: "I killed your Ma, I killed your Pa")--is apparently headed for a comfortable exile. Indicted as a war criminal and under mounting international pressure, cornered by a large Liberian rebel group that at the weekend was attacking Monrovia, Taylor last week was...
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