Denmark does not want Liberia's Taylor

COPENHAGEN - Denmark said on Tuesday it would reject a request to provide a jail cell for former Liberian President Charles Taylor if he is convicted of war crimes, becoming the third European nation to do so.

The United Nations had asked the Danes if Taylor could serve any prison sentence in the Nordic country, but Copenhagen followed Sweden and Austria in turning down the request.

"We are sceptical. They should try elsewhere," Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller told reporters.

Denmark had received a UN request regarding jail for Taylor on Sunday and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had spoken about it with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday, Moeller said.

Until now, Denmark had responded favourably to every UN request to house people convicted by international courts, notably from the former Yugoslavia, he said.

"Other countries than Denmark must be able to take care of this," said Justice Minister Lene Espersen.

"Denmark has no obligations regarding prisoners from Sierra Leone," she added.

Moeller and Espersen spoke to reporters after briefing parliament's foreign affairs committee on the matter.

The UN wants to move Taylor's trial to The Hague in the Netherlands from a UN-backed tribunal in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, where Taylor has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

There are fears Taylor's trial could spur unrest in Sierra Leone or Liberia if it is held in Freetown.

The Netherlands has said it is willing to host the trial but diplomats say it wants assurances that another country will imprison Taylor if he is found guilty, or accept him as an exile if he is acquitted.

Taylor is accused of having armed rebels who killed, mutilated and raped civilians during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war.

Taylor's rise to power in 1989 led to a 14-year, on-off civil war in Liberia that spilled across regional borders.

- REUTERS