Charles Taylor wanted by Interpol

Charles Taylor is in exile in Nigeria

International police body Interpol has issued a global notice for the arrest of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, currently in exile in Nigeria.

Mr Taylor has been indicted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by a UN-backed court in Sierra Leone.

Interpol's "red notice" is not an arrest warrant but national police can use it to make a provisional arrest.

Nigeria has announced it will not arrest Mr Taylor on the basis of the notice, describing it as "political".

The notice was posted on Interpol's website with a photo of Mr Taylor in a suit and a warning that he "may be dangerous".

However, Nigerian presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo told the BBC that the Taylor case was not a matter for Interpol but a "political affair".

Tight security

Mr Taylor went into exile in August as part of a plan to end Liberia's civil war.

Security is said to be tight around Mr Taylor's compound in Calabar, south-eastern Nigeria.

SIERRA LEONE SPECIAL COURT Established by UN and Sierra Leone Try those most to blame for war crimes Mandate till 2005 Local and international prosecutors, judges Funded by UK, US and others

Recently, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo said he would send Mr Taylor back to Liberia if the new government there wanted him to face trial.

Nigeria had previously said it would not send Mr Taylor to be tried by the UN-backed court in Sierra Leone.

Mr Taylor was indicted while he was still Liberia's president.

The court is seeking to try him on charges that he armed and trained Sierra Leone's rebels who waged a campaign of rape and dismemberment during the country's civil war.

As a former warlord, he was also involved in the bloodshed in his own country.