"On Wednesday the Sierra Leone Special Court asked the Dutch government to agree to allow the physical judicial process to take place in the Netherlands but it would remain the Sierra Leone tribunal," foreign ministry spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij told AFP.

The Netherlands would cooperate if strict conditions were met first, he said.

The Sierra Leone tribunal told the Dutch authorities that Taylor's "physical presence there could endanger the stability of the region."

Taylor, a warlord turned president, is considered the single most powerful figure behind a series of civil wars in Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone between 1989 and 2003, which between them left around 400,000 people dead.

The court in Freetown has charged Taylor with 11 counts of crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone, murder, sexual violence and unlawful use of child soldiers.

Vermeij said the Netherlands would cooperate if three conditions were met.

"First, the legal basis must be firm. We want a United Nations Security Council resolution and a formal agreement between court and host country.

"Second, Charles Taylor has to leave the Netherlands immediately after the final verdict is handed down.

"Finally, the Sierra Leone tribunal itself must arrange to use the facilities of one of the international courts already in The Hague," Vermeij said.

Under these conditions, Taylor could be judged in The Hague by a temporary branch of the Sierra Leone special court, which would use facilities of one of the other international courts in the city.

The Hague is already host to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice and the UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia.

Vermeij said the use of the ICC facilities -- a court room and a detention cell -- was being discussed but he stressed the matter was one for the Sierra Leone court and the ICC.

"The demand is being looked at," ICC spokesman Ernest Sagaga confirmed to AFP.

Sagaga could not say when the ICC might decide if the Sierra Leone court could hold proceedings on its premises.

On Wednesday US president George Bush announced there were moves underway to have Taylor tried in The Hague.

The US president said moving the trial to The Hague would require a UN Security Council resolution but that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believed it could be passed "relatively quickly."

The Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up jointly by the UN, Sierra Leone and donor countries including the US.

None of the existing international courts in The Hague are mandated to prosecute the crimes Taylor is accused of.

The ICC cannot judge any crimes committed before the court officially came into being in July 2002. Most of the crimes Taylor stands accused of were committed in the 1990s.

The ICC is an independent court. It is not an entity of the UN although the two do cooperate.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is a temporary UN court due to close in 2010. It is only mandated to prosecute crimes committed in the 1990s on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest UN court also based in The Hague, can only rule on conflicts between states.It cannot try individual suspects.