United Nations plans to move the trial of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president and west African warlord, to The Hague have run into a new obstacle: no one seems ready to accommodate him afterwards, whether he is found guilty or not.

The Dutch government has stipulated it will not host Mr Taylor's trial without arrangements for his eventual transfer to another country. But both Austria and Sweden, which have agreements to incarcerate international criminals and upon which hopes had rested, have indicated they are not able to take him.