Bush may rebuff Nigerian president

WASHINGTON — The White House suggested Tuesday that President Bush might refuse to meet with Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo this week if answers are not forthcoming about the disappearance of indicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

Taylor has been indicted by a U.N. tribunal on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity while in office.

Taylor vanished days after Nigeria agreed to surrender him to Liberia, whose recently elected president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has called for him to be tried by the international panel. Conspiracy theories swirled on who was to blame, their motives, and where Taylor might be headed.

Nigeria declined to arrest Taylor; Obasanjo's spokesperson, Remi Oyo, said Monday that Taylor wasn't a prisoner in Nigeria and it was up to the Liberians to come and get him.

Analysts warned that Liberia could face unrest from Taylor's supporters if he is not found quickly. Others predicted Johnson-Sirleaf would have trouble consolidating support and pushing ahead with her tough anti-corruption campaign if civil servants and businessmen feared Taylor might one day return and punish them.

Bush is to meet with Obasanjo today in the Oval Office. Asked Tuesday whether the meeting was still on, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, "Right now, we're looking for answers from the Nigerian government about the whereabouts of Charles Taylor."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said it would be inappropriate for Bush to receive Obasanjo under the circumstances. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, testifying before a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, told senators it would be a matter of "utmost seriousness" if reports of Taylor's escape are true.

Taylor, the only former African head of state to be indicted for war crimes, faces 17 counts over his role in fomenting civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone, a country rich in diamonds that could be easily smuggled and traded for arms.

Taylor also has been accused of starting civil war in Liberia and harboring al-Qaida suicide bombers who attacked U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 12 Americans and more than 200 Africans.

Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war ended in 2002. Liberia's 14-year civil war ended in 2003, after Nigeria's Obasanjo offered Taylor asylum and Taylor left the country. Both were brutal wars involving widespread atrocities against civilians and use of child soldiers.

West Africa, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, is a region fraught with interwoven conflicts. There are reports that Taylor's fighters and other mercenaries have been moving between the countries, and analysts predict that fighters in the region who support him will return to Liberia once they know he's free.

The United States, the United Nations and others have demanded that Taylor be handed over to the international war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone.