War crimes trial: Campbell received 'dirty stones'
Updated on 05 August 2010
Naomi Campbell tells the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor she was given a pouch containing "small, dirty looking stones" after they had met during a visit to South Africa in 1997. Channel 4 News looks at the key role of 'blood diamonds' in the trial.
Prosecutors summoned Ms Campbell to back their allegations that Taylor received diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone, which funded a decade long civil war in the country in which tens of thousands lost their lives.
The prosecution at the Special Court for Sierra Leone at The Hague claimed that Taylor gave a "blood diamond" to the British supermodel during a 1997 trip to South Africa.
Ms Campbell had told America's ABC News back in April that she "never received a diamond" - and refused to talk any further about the allegation.
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Later she told the chat show host Oprah Winfrey she feared for her safety if she became involved in the case.
She appeared at the war crimes court after she was subpoenaed by prosecutors. "I don't want to be here." she said. "I was made to be here...this is an inconvenience to me."
Ms Campbell told the court she had been a given pouch containing a few small diamonds after a charity dinner in South Africa.
"I saw a few stones, they were very small, dirty looking stones," she told the court, adding she did not know who the diamonds were from.
Taylor - accused of being given the diamonds by rebels a month before his trip to South Africa - is said by prosecutors to have given Ms Campbell a large rough cut diamond after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela. The following month - the military junta in Sierra Leone received a large shipment of weapons. Mr Taylor has denied all the charges against him, describing the allegations as "nonsense".
Diamonds 'not the cause' of the Sierra Leone war
SOAS fellow Dr David Harris tells Channel 4 News that while Sierra Leone's civil war was long and brutal, the issue of diamonds needs to be kept in perspective.
"They were not the cause of the war. They were fuel for the prolongation of the war and most likely one of the reasons that it turned so mercenary and nasty. The causes of the war, however, are far, far wider in scope.
"Diamonds have been more of a curse than a blessing to the country and Charles Taylor has played a part in this conflict, but there is much more to the war than these two factors."
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The evidence came to light after Hollywood actress Mia Farrow gave evidence saying that Ms Campbell excitedly confided in her about receiving "a large diamond". The prosecution claim that Ms Campbell received the gem during a late night visit from Taylor's colleagues after the charity party in South Africa.
Ms Campbell told the court that following the party she was woken and given a gift. "When I was asleep I had a knock at my door," she said. "Two men were there and they gave me a pouch and said "a gift for you"."
And she said she didn’t know who the men were and did not ask. "They didn't introduce themselves," she said.
However she told the court that she talked about the incident over breakfast the next morning and was told "That's obviously Charles Taylor". She claimed she'd never heard of Liberia or its former President before then - and had never heard the term 'blood diamonds'.
She said she'd read about Taylor on the internet and found out he had allegedly "killed thousands of people". "I don't want my family in danger in any way", she said.
As for the diamonds - Ms Campbell said she'd handed them to a colleague, telling him to "do something good with them". Her friend, she said, still had the gems, and documents from the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund "categorically" show they never received them.
Prosecutors plan to call Mia Farrow and another guest at the dinner - modelling agent Carole White - to give evidence next Monday.
A group photo taken at the charity dinner in South Africa in 1997. During the hearing Campbell was asked to write the names of those pictured on the photo. She stands in white to the left of Charles Taylor; Mia Farrow is second from right.
In the morning Campbell said she looked in the pouch and discovered the stones. Later, during breakfast, Campbell told her former agent and Mia Farrow about the pouch. "One of the two said well, that's obviously [from] Charles Taylor and I said, "I guess it was"."
Campbell denied she had discussed the size of the diamonds with Farrow.
Said she did not want to keep the diamonds and gave them away to her "friend" and former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund Jeremy Ratcliffe. Campbell told the court that to her knowledge, Mr Ratcliffe still had them.
She said she had wanted the diamonds to be donated to charity but added: "He still has them so they didn't benefit."
Campbell initially refused to testify at the trial but the court issued a subpoena forcing her to give evidence. Today she said her appearance was "an inconvenience" and that she was afraid it would put her family at risk.
Charles Taylor, Naomi Campbell and 'blood diamonds'
Naomi Campbell's testimony at the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor is a reminder of several things, Ian Smillie, the first witness to give evidence in the trial of Liberian president, writes for Channel 4 News.
The first is that this important trial is still going on. Taylor was indicted in 2003 for crimes committed in Sierra Leone during the 1990s. His trial, which began in the Hague in 2008, has been long and expensive, but for the hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans who suffered during the conflict, it may provide a measure of justice and closure.
Campbell's appearance is also a reminder that diamonds were central to this brutal war, and to the greater tragedies and loss of life in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And it is a reminder that the problem of 'blood diamonds', or conflict diamonds, has not been resolved.
Diamonds are symbols of love and fidelity, but they are also extremely important to the economies of many poor countries, and many very poor people who mine them.
Read the article in full
Open Society Justice Initiative, a human rights organisation monitoring the Taylor trail, said: "The timing of this dinner is important because if this story...is true, it places Taylor in possession of at least one rough-cut diamond the month after the rebels came to see him, and the month before the junta received a large shipment of weapons in October."
Taylor denies all 11 charges of instigating murder, rape, mutilation, sexual slavery and conscription of child soldiers during wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone in which more than 250,000 people were killed.
The International Criminal Court granted a request by prosecutors to summon Ms Campbell and actress Mia Farrow.
All three women attended a South African reception in 1997 where Mr Taylor allegedly gave Ms Campbell "rough diamonds".
The prosecution hopes the celebrities' testimony will support its claims that Taylor dealt in "blood diamonds" when he supported rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war, which Taylor denies.
Ade Daramy, a journalist from Sierra Leone told Channel 4 News that interest in the case has been high even before the model's evidence.
"Unlike the circus that's arisen because of Naomi's testimony today. In Sierra Leone and Liberia people have been following the trial from the start," he said.
"It's televised every day. They've been following it avidly, every single word of every witness that has been there.
"The stakes have been raised because of Naomi's presence but they are definitely keeping an eye on it."
From Streatham to the Hague
Born in Streatham, south London, Naomi Campbell appeared on the cover of Elle at the age of 14.
In 1988 she became the first black cover girl on the front of Vogue Paris and by 1990 had cemented her place as one of the 'big six' supermodels.
She has appeared in numerous pop videos for artists including Michael Jackson, George Michael and Jay-Z.
Her other commercial, creative and charitable ventures include a perfume line, a novel and a charity fashion show for Hurricane Katrina victims.
In 2007 a judge ordered Ms Campbell to do a two-day anger management course and complete five days of community service after she pleaded guilty to throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper.
For her punishment, Campbell donned a safety vest and gloves to sweep floors in New York. In the past, she has blamed her temper on lingering resentment toward her father for abandoning her as a child.
