Nigeria has finally acknowledged that war crimes can never be tolerated; its decision to end the exile of former Liberian president Charles Taylor marks a momentous occasion for the people of West Africa and sends a message to the world's dictators and warlords that they cannot continue to act with impunity.
Taylor ranks among the world's most-wanted criminals. The United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone has charged him with 17 counts of crimes against humanity, including rape, murder and terrorism. He is alleged to have armed and trained rebels in Sierra Leone in return for diamonds, sparking a 10-year conflict that claimed 200,000 lives and left thousands more mutilated. In his own country, more than 250,000 died as a result of civil war. The violence spread to Ivory Coast and threatened stability in Guinea.
Despite this, a mockery was made of international justice when, in 2003, Nigeria gave Taylor refuge as part of a peace deal to end Liberia's troubles. In return for stepping aside and being allowed to continue his life of luxury, the dictator promised to stay out of his country's politics and allow democracy to take root.
This sort of deal was not unprecedented in Africa, renowned for its dictators and corrupt politicians - among them Ethiopia's Haile Mariam Mengistu, wanted for genocide in his homeland, but living in Zimbabwe since being ousted in 1991; the man dubbed 'Africa's Adolf Hitler', Uganda's Idi Amin, who died in Saudi Arabia in 2003 without facing justice for the estimated 300,000 deaths attributed to his regime; and Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko, who plundered his nation of billions of dollars and died in Togo in 1998.
Exile solves an immediate problem but does not give justice to those who suffered brutality and repression. After three years of international pressure and, more recently, the urging of Liberia's newly elected president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Nigeria took the unprecedented step on Saturday of reversing the trend. Within days, Taylor should be in Sierra Leone.
The decision is not without danger: Taylor's return could reopen wounds in Liberia and Sierra Leone. It may undermine a fragile peace and hamper efforts to end the rule of dictators elsewhere in the world, who will now be cautious about striking a deal like Taylor's. But far outweighing such risks is the need to show that such abuses cannot be tolerated. International justice must always be observed. The alleged victims of Taylor's rule deserve retribution and will not find it without him facing trial.