OFFER TO KIDNAP CHARLES TAYLOR

S E C R E T ABUJA 000101 SIPDIS NOFORN E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2014 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL PTER SUBJECT: OFFER TO KIDNAP CHARLES TAYLOR Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY CHARGE R. ROBERTS FOR REASONS 1.5 (B & D). ¶1. (S/NF) A recently retired Nigerian special forces Colonel asked poloff January 16 about exiled Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, his whereabouts and the purported reward for his delivery to the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal. ¶2. (S/NF) Poloff explained that there is no such reward, that a general fund had been mentioned in U.S. legislation, but that the USG was not offering it. The Colonel made his disappointment clear, commenting that he had already placed about 35 of his own "boys" among the Nigerian military security forces the GON has provided for Taylor. "I could deliver him to a place of your choosing at any time," the Colonel claimed. Whether Taylor is in Obudu or Calabar, he continued, "my boys can grab him." ¶3. (C) COMMENT: Talk of the "reward" for Taylor continues in Nigeria. The prospect of a payoff for grabbing someone whose movements are known is very enticing. Most, however, could not implement the level of planning which this man claims to have achieved. Roberts