UN asks Denmark to accept Liberia's Taylor

The Danish government has received a formal request from the United Nations to imprison Liberian President Charles Taylor if he is convicted by a UN-backed war crimes court, government sources said Tuesday.

The letter, sent by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was received in Copenhagen yesterday, a government spokesman said.

It was unclear when Denmark would answer Annan. Fogh Rasmussen, who is on a week-long visit to Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory, was not available for comment.

The Special Court in Sierra Leone has requested that Taylor’s trial be moved to The Hague, Netherlands for fear a man who once was among the region’s most feared warlords could still spark unrest in West Africa.

The Netherlands has agreed – but only if the arrangement is endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution, the Hague-based International Criminal Court agrees to provide the venue and Taylor leaves immediately after the trial, even if he is acquitted.