Naomi admits being given diamonds

THE HAGUE - Supermodel Naomi Campbell admitted to the Sierra Leone war crimes court that she had been given a pouch containing a few small diamonds while in South Africa.

"I saw a few stones, they were very small, dirty looking stones," Campbell told the court.

She asserted that she did not know who the diamonds were from.

Prosecutors say that during a visit to South Africa in 1997, former Liberia leader Charles Taylor gave Campbell a large rough cut diamond after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela.

"Blood diamonds" are diamonds mined in conflict zones and sold to fund warring parties.

Campbell told the court she had been woken up by two men who knocked at her bedroom door and gave her a pouch, saying they said to her: "A gift for you".

She said that she put the pouch beside her bed and opened it up the next morning: "When they gave me the pouch ... I went back to bed. I looked into the pouch the next morning".

At breakfast, she said she had recounted the incident to actress Mia Farrow and modelling agent Carole White.

"One of the two said 'That's obviously Charles Taylor', and I said I guess it was," the model told the court.

Speaking calmly, Campbell said either Farrow or White had said the stones were probably diamonds, but she did not recall showing the stones to the women, despite taking the pouch with her to breakfast.

For her testimony, the 40-year-old supermodel was wearing a cream-coloured outfit and a choker necklace with her hair tied in a bun.

BACKGROUND:

Prosecutors have previously said that Taylor - accused of receiving the diamonds from rebels a month before his trip to South Africa - gave Campbell a large rough cut diamond after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela.

"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," said Open Society Justice Initiative, a human rights organisation monitoring the Taylor trial.

Prosecutors plan to call White and Farrow to the stand next Monday.

The prosecution says White had heard Taylor say he was going to give Campbell a diamond and was there when she received it, while Farrow attended the reception where Campbell met Taylor and was told later by Campbell about the gift.

Campbell initially refused to testify, prompting the court to subpoena her. A subpoena is a legal measure used to gain testimony from an unwilling witness on the threat of a fine or imprisonment.

TAYLOR’S ROAD TO TRIAL:

• Prosecutors from the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone have said Taylor sought to control neighbouring Sierra Leone's diamond mines and destabilise its government to boost his regional influence. They say he directed Revolutionary United Front rebels in a campaign of terror against civilians.
   
• The Special Court indicted Taylor in June 2003 on 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the war in Sierra Leone but condensed the charges to 11 counts in 2006 to ensure a focused trial. He has pleaded not guilty to them all.
   
• The charges included acts of terrorism, murder, rape, enslavement, conscripting child soldiers, sexual slavery, pillage and outrages upon personal dignity.
   
• Taylor was moved to The Hague in June 2006 due to fears that a trial in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown could spur unrest in Sierra Leone or Liberia. If convicted, he would serve his jail sentence in Britain.
   
• The prosecution closed its case against Taylor on Feb. 27, 2009 after 91 witnesses were presented. A defence lawyer for Taylor said in April 2009 there was no evidence he planned and instigated atrocities in Sierra Leone and asked the war crimes court to acquit him of all charges.   

LIFE DETAILS:

• Taylor was born in January 1948 to a family of Americo-Liberians - a small but traditionally powerful group descended from the freed slaves who founded the West African country of Liberia in the 19th century.
   
• A Christian who studied in the United States and enjoyed  tennis, Taylor's trademark outfit was a white suit with a cane.
   
• Taylor worked for Liberian President Samuel Doe in a position that gave him control of much of Liberia’s budget. Doe accused him in 1983 of embezzling almost $1 million and Taylor fled to the United States.
   
• Jailed by US authorities for embezzlement, Taylor escaped from his Massachusetts cell in 1985 after a year. He resurfaced in Ivory Coast and launched a rebellion in 1989 to topple Doe.
   
• The Liberian war ended in 1996 with 200,000 dead. Taylor became president after a campaign memorable for the macabre unofficial slogan: "You killed my ma, you killed my pa. I'll vote for you".
   
• But Taylor's foes rose again and, under US pressure, he stepped down and handed over the country to former Vice President Moses Blah. Taylor accepted asylum in Nigeria as part of a peace plan.
   
• Taylor was known as "Pappy" by a generation of child soldiers who went into battle on a cocktail of marijuana and amphetamines and were led by self-appointed generals with names such as "Peanut Butter", "Bad Boy" and "Butt Naked".