Charles Ghankay Taylor (born January 28, 1948) is a Liberian leader who served as President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003. He was a prominent warlord in the Liberian Civil War in the early 1990s, was elected president, was forced into exile, and now faces trial.

In December 1989 Taylor launched an armed uprising from Côte d'Ivoire. His forces, known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), soon controlled most of the country. Then-president Samuel Doe was overthrown, and tortured to death the following year by Prince Johnson, at that time an ally of Taylor. Doe's fall led to the political fragmentation of the country into violent factionalism. In mid-1990, Prince Johnson's supporters split from Taylor's group and captured Monrovia for themselves, depriving Taylor of outright victory.

The civil war turned into an ethnic conflict, with seven factions fighting for control of Liberia's resources (especially iron ore, diamond, timber, and rubber). Up to 200,000 people were killed, and more than 1 million were forced from their homes.

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