Pat Robertson partner Charles Taylor funded al-Qaeda, report says. (People & Events). Geographic Code: 6LIBE Date: Feb 1, 2003 Words: 506 Publication: Church & State ISSN: 0009-6334



Liberian President Charles Taylor, a business partner of TV preacher Pat Robertson, helped fund al-Qaeda terrorists by giving them safe harbor in his country during a diamond-buying spree, investigators in Europe have charged.



Investigators looking into a connection between al-Qaeda and Taylor determined that terrorists were active in the region for at least two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. Investigators charged that three highly placed al-Qaeda operatives, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, moved about in Liberia and nearby Burkina Faso, buying diamonds that were later used to fund terrorist activities. The trio was later joined by other a-Qaeda terrorists, who moved in and out of Liberia at will.



The Washington Post reported that the investigators believe that Taylor, Liberia's dictator, received a $1 million payoff for harboring the terrorists. Al-Qaeda operatives apparently began smuggling diamonds in the region after the U.S. government froze the group's American assets in September of 1998, following the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.



Key al-Qaeda terrorists stepped up their activity in Liberia just before the Sept. 11 attacks. In July of 2001, an al-Qaeda leader flew to Burkina Faso with $1 million that was eventually turned over to Taylor. According to the report from European investigators, the money was to pay Taylor "to hide the two al-Qaeda operatives in Camp Gbatala," a military facility near a farm Taylor owns.



Robertson has been in business with Taylor since 1999, when he formed a company called Freedom Gold Limited. The company, although chartered in the Cayman Islands, operates out of Robertson's Virginia Beach headquarters. Robertson's agreement with Taylor gives Freedom Gold the right to mine for gold in southeastern Liberia. If any gold is found, Taylor's government will pocket royalty fees.



Taylor, considered one of the most brutal dictators in the world, is an international pariah who has been accused of looting the impoverished west African nation for personal gain. Last year, he appeared at a "Liberia for Jesus" rally in the nation's capital of Monrovia, where he proclaimed that the country was under the rule of Jesus Christ. The event, which Robertson helped organize, received coverage on the televangelist's Christian Broadcasting Network.



Robertson has also tried, without success, to convince the U.S. government to ally with Taylor. He lobbied the State Department to lift its ban on Taylor and allow him to visit the United States and in June of 2002 went so far as to write to Secretary of State Colin Powell, demanding to know why the United States has not backed Taylor in his struggle against an armed opposition movement called Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy.



At the time Robertson wrote the letter, U.S. intelligence officials were already looking into a connection between Taylor and al-Qaeda. Although Taylor has denied being tied to al-Qaeda, investigators say the connection is well established. Observers speculate that the new information may lead to further U.S. sanctions against the country.