Former Liberian president Charles Taylor tried to broker peace in neighbouring Sierra Leone rather than fuel civil war, his defence lawyer said Monday, as his war crimes trial resumed.
"We are here to defend a man who we say is innocent of all these charges," Taylor's lawyer Courtenay Griffiths told the court.
"Taylor was not an African Napoleon bent on taking over the sub-region. He had a frontline role in the conflict as a broker of peace."
Taylor is to take the stand on Tuesday to answer the charges of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers, enslavement and pillaging, arising from Sierra Leone's 1991-2001 civil war.
"This is the first and perhaps only chance to give his account," Griffith said. "He wants to do it, not because he has to but because he wants to. He feels it is important to set the historical record straight."
The 61-year-old is accused of arming, training and controlling Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels blamed for the mutilation of many civilians who had their hands and arms severed, and of involvement in the "blood diamonds" trade.
Dressed in a dark brown suit, the first head of state to appear before an international tribunal followed proceedings with an air of calm interest.
"The accused will deny the allegations that he controlled the RUF," said Griffiths.
"He will say:'How could I have been micromanaging a conflict in Sierra Leone as alleged when I as newly elected president of Liberia had so much on my plate'?"
Prosecutor Stephen Rapp has insisted that Taylor was "an exceptional violator of human rights" who had steadily provided weapons and support to the RUF in exchange for "blood diamonds."
But Griffiths argued that Taylor could not have done this in view of an arms embargo slapped on Liberia by the international community.
"Child soldiers were not a Charles Taylor invention," he added. "The dreadful phenomenon of child soldiers had existed in this part of Africa (...) well before Charles Taylor emerged on the scene."
The ex-leader's testimony is expected to last from six to eight weeks and should shed new light on certain episodes of the wars in Sierra Leone and in Liberia, where he launched a rebellion against president Samuel Doe in 1989.
A final verdict in the case is only expected in a year's time.
The defence has deposited a list of 249 witnesses who might be called and Taylor's lawyers have accused the prosecution of "lavish payments" to its own 91 witnesses.
Taylor has been on trial in The Hague since January, 2008. Following his arrest in Nigeria he was handed over to the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone in 2006.
The former warlord was president of Liberia from 1997 after rebels unseated Doe and then battled each other, but was himself overthrown by a rebellion and agreed to go into exile in 2003.
Taylor's trial was moved from Sierra Leone to the Netherlands because of fears that his presence in the African country could destabilise the region.
Griffiths said that to portray Taylor as "such a bad man" is to approach him with "preconceived ideas," given that he made "efforts to end the sufferings of the Liberian people" and "rebuild its fledgling economy."
A Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that last week released a damning report on the Liberian civil wars of 1989-2003 saw things differently and included Taylor on a list of eight warlords it wanted brought to trial for crimes against humanity.
