The UN Security Council has voted to freeze the money and property of exiled Liberian leader Charles Taylor in a resolution drafted by the United States.
Taylor went into exile in Nigeria last August as rebels entered the Liberian capital, Monrovia. He faces war crimes charges by a UN-backed tribunal for his backing of vicious insurgents in neighboring Sierra Leone.
The resolution asked all 191 UN members to search for and freeze financial assets "and economic resources owned or controlled directly or indirectly" by Taylor, his wife, Jewell Howard Taylor and his son, Charles Taylor, Jr. as well as other associates.
A recent UN report, commissioned by the council, said Taylor continued to divert government revenues, even from exile.
A previous report had said funds taken illegally from the Liberian International Shipping and Corporate Registry, with a key office in Vienna, Virginia, were invested by Taylor in real estate in South Africa.