Warlord's chief gun runner jailed

THE HAGUE - A one-time used car salesman who became the right-hand man of Liberia's former president Charles Taylor has been jailed for eight years for breaking a UN arms embargo.

A Dutch court found that Guus Kouwenhoven, 64, sold weapons to Taylor in return for rights to the small West African country's tropical timber.

Kouwenhoven used his logging firm, Oriental Timber Company, to smuggle weapons into Liberia which were used by militias loyal to Taylor to kill civilians, including children and babies.

But the court acquitted Kouwenhoven of war crimes charges, dismissing the prosecution's claims that because Kouwenhoven supplied the weapons he could be directly linked to the atrocities carried out with their use.

The court also found insufficient evidence to prove that Kouwenhoven had a 2500 strong militia at his disposal.

- INDEPENDENT