Monrovia – Notorious timber trader and gunrunner Guus Kouwenhoven has been arrested in South Africa. The arrest follows the April conviction of Kouwenhoven in a Dutch court for aiding and abetting war crimes and illegally trading arms during the height of Liberia’s civil war, which claimed over 250,000 lives. You will be found and you will go to jail.”Kouwenhoven was head of the Oriental Timber Corporation (OTC) during Liberia’s civil war, which lasted from 1989 to 2003. The war was funded largely through the sale of diamonds and timber plundered from Liberia’s rainforests. The Dutch courts have found Kouwenhoven guilty of delivering weapons to the regime of then-President of Liberia Charles Taylor, in return for special treatment for his timber company.

Source: Front Page Africa December 09, 2017 09:00 UTC