THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan government ran a training camp in the 1980s that prepared Charles Taylor's troops to seize power in the West African nation of Liberia, a key witness at Taylor's war crimes trial testified Wednesday.

Moses Blah, who served as vice president under Taylor after he rose to power in Liberia, is the highest-ranking witness to testify against his former boss since the trial began early this year in the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Blah's testimony was the strongest link yet in the prosecution's case against Taylor that Gadhafi had a hand in his rise to power and also linked the Libyan leader to other bloody African insurgencies.

Taylor has pleaded not guilty to charges that include murder, rape, torture and enlisting child soldiers during the 10-year civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone that ended in 2002. Prosecutors allege he orchestrated the atrocities from his presidential power base in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

Blah said he was among about 180 rebels recruited by Taylor and flown to Libya in the late 1980s to undergo months of military training. The fighters learned to use AK-47 assault rifles and surface-to-air missiles at a military camp near Tripoli, he said.

Taylor's forces entered Liberia late in 1989, triggering a civil war that lasted years and left thousands dead.

After Taylor grabbed power in Liberia, Gadhafi sent Taylor's regime a shipment of crude oil to sell so the proceeds could be used to buy "military hardware," Blah said.

Blah had originally been slated to give evidence anonymously, but he later decided to speak in open court despite a death threat e-mailed to his family. His testimony was expected to continue several days.

In an example of the brutality of the conflict in Liberia — and foreshadowing later atrocities in Sierra Leone — Blah said that one rebel commander "had a habit of eating fellow human beings" and that fighters only joined his unit if they were prepared to take part in cannibalism.

Blah said he once visited the commander, Nelxon Gaye, at a camp in a rubber plantation and found him roasting human hands. "He did it over a fire and he ate it with boiled cassava."

The 61-year-old Blah briefly served as Liberian president in 2003, assuming power after Taylor was forced into exile. Neither man looked at the other as Blah, walking with the help of a cane, entered the trial chamber.

Blah's testimony, which will continue Thursday, is expected to detail how Taylor allegedly controlled rebels in Sierra Leone from Liberia. Such evidence is critical to prosecutors seeking to link Taylor to the savage conflict in that country.

Taylor's trial is being held in a courtroom rented from the International Criminal Court because of fears that prosecuting him in Sierra Leone could spark new violence.

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