Former Liberian leader and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor is on trial in The Hague - the culmination of a lengthy campaign for him to be brought before an international court for allegedly backing rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone. The BBC's Mark Doyle looks back at Charles Taylor's career. Liberia's former President Charles Taylor is a frustrated showman. There is nothing this naturally confident man would like more than to strut the African stage playing the flamboyant statesman. But he is now on trial for alleged war crimes. The charges relate to his role in the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone where he allegedly backed rebels responsible for widespread atrocities. The showman has been on display many times. When he was a rebel in the early 1990s, controlling most of Liberia apart from the capital, he turned up at a West African regional conference in Burkina Faso in full military combat gear.