Naomi Campbell admits she was given blood diamonds

UK Telegraph, now

The actress Mia Farrow claimed that Taylor gave the model an uncut diamond after a dinner party hosted by Nelson Mandela in South Africa in 1997.

Prosecutors say that is evidence he received diamonds from Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for weapons during that country’s 1992-2002 civil war.

The British model, who had fought to avoid testifying, arrived at the courthouse in The Hague on Thursday surrounded by police escorts. She did not speak to reporters outside.

This is a weird story. It refers to black men giving people diamonds, and rebels in Sierra Leone who illegally mined or stole diamonds.

Here we go back into stealing people’s landbases again, I expect.

Blood diamonds. When it’s Europeans stealing them, that’s different, I guess.

Wikipedia:

Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) [4] and has a population estimated at 6.5 million. It is a former British Colony and now a constitutional republic comprising three provinces and the Western Area, which are further divided into fourteen districts.

The country has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests.[5] Freetown is the capital, largest city and economic center. The other major cities are Bo, Kenema, Koidu Town and Makeni.[4]

English is the official language,[6] spoken at schools, government administration and by the media. However, the Krio language (a language derived from English and several African languages and native to the Sierra Leone Krio people) is the most widely spoken language in virtually all parts of the country, namely by 97% of the country’s population,[2] uniting all the different ethnic groups, especially in their trade and interaction with each other.[1] Despite its common use throughout the country, the Krio language has no official status.

Oh well. In that case, I suppose their rights to their land and mineral rights have no official status either? Is this one of *those* stories?

Sure as hell sounds like it.

What are blood diamonds?

Conflict diamonds, or so-called “blood diamonds”, are rough diamonds used by rebel dictators to fund wars against legitimate governments.

Legitimate according to whom?

The precious stones are at the heart of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor’s war crimes trial in The Hague, who allegedly used them to buy weapons for Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

Who likely considered themselves legitimate.

Under a UN resolution, an international certification scheme for rough diamonds was set up in 2003 to halt the trading of blood diamonds, in an effort to ensure they could not be used to finance conflict.

As a result the Kimberley Process, which controls rough diamond production and trade, came into being and is now in action in 75 countries which account for 99.8 per cent of the world’s rough diamonds.

Ah. How convenient.

And if you sign up, you’re guaranteed not to be dealing with diamonds that have been used to finance atrocities. We’ll note that these diamonds look just like other diamonds. But if you’re not in the club…well, then you’re…not in the club.

Yeah. Right. Igor, bring me the bridge! I have a sale!

I don’t even KNOW anything about diamonds, and this still looks like an absolutely bullshit story.