Global Policy Forum

Prosecutors said Monday they have charged a Dutch man with war crimes for breaking the international arms embargo against Liberia. The 62-year-old man was arrested last Friday in Rotterdam and has been provisionally charged with war crimes and breaking the arms embargo against Liberia, an offense under Dutch economic law, prosecution spokesman Wim de Bruin said.

The Dutch authorities will not release the name of the suspect, but he has been identified in UN and NGO reports about Liberian arms trading as Guus van Kouwenhoven, or Gus Kouwenhoven. According to the Dutch authorities suspicions about Van Kouwenhoven arose from reports from the United Nations and the British non-governmental organisation Global Witness, a watchdog organisation investigating corruption and exploitation of natural resources.

The United Nations said in 2000 that Van Kouwenhoven was part of then Liberian president Charles Taylor's "inner circle". "Van Kouwenhoven is responsible for the logistical aspects of many of the arms deals," the UN report said. "Militias formed by the Dutchman's timber companies are alleged to have participated in massacres of civilians where even babies were not spared. The weapons used by the militias to commit these war crimes are alleged to have been supplied by the Dutchman," the Dutch prosecutor said in a statement.

A spokesman for Global Witness told AFP that the organisation was delighted with the arrest. "It is fantastic that the Dutch have been able to gather enough evidence to make the arrest. Van Kouwenhoven has been a key player in the regional instability in Liberia and Sierra Leone," Global Witness campaigner Alex Yearsley said.

The NGO says Van Kouwenhoven supplied Taylor with arms in exchange for timber. According to the Dutch authorities, Van Kouwenhoven delivered arms to Liberia in 2001, 2002 and 2003 despite an arms embargo because of the civil war raging between rebels and government militias.

The civil war formally ended in 2003 with a peace pact that sent Taylor into exile. Dutch authorities started investigating the suspect in February 2004 and have worked with French authorities, since Van Kouwenhoven also resided in Paris for some time.

The police have searched houses in Rotterdam and Paris in connection with the investigation.

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