Liberia: Taylor Rebuts Prosecution Evidence for Role in Sierra ...
On Monday, Mr. Taylor told the Deliberate Court for Sierra Leone that he did not did not have any pact with the Revolutionary In harmony Front (RUF) rebels to help each other out with their respective wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
"I had no entente with RUF leader Foday Sankoh for mutual assistance. That could not have been inexorable," Mr. Taylor said during his trial in The Hague.
Mr. Taylor asserted that if such requited pact ever existed between himself and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader Foday Sankoh, the prosecution would have led confirmation to show the assistance that Mr. Sankoh rendered to Mr. Taylor's National Loyalist Front of Liberia (NPFL).
"There has been no evidence in this court about Sankoh being affected in the conflict in Liberia or commanding an NPFL post. There was no such reaction because I did not know him at this time," he said.
Mr. Taylor was responding to questions from his defense opinion, Courtenay Griffiths, about allegations that while in Libya in the late 1980s, Mr. Taylor entered into an deal with Mr. Sankoh for the RUF rebels to assist the NPFL during its initial war efforts in Liberia in the Exchange for Mr. Taylor's assistance to the RUF in attacking Sierra Leone. Mr. Taylor denied that this was ever the turns out that. The accused former president reiterated his earlier position that while he was in Libya, he did not recognize about the existence of the RUF and that he did not meet with Mr. Sankoh.
Zimbabwe's Diamond Production Draws Scrutiny
Zimbabwean diamonds exhort up a small percentage -- about 0.4% -- of the global diamond selling, according to an industry group, the World Diamond Caucus. So far this year, Zimbabwe has earned $20 million from the purchase of diamonds, a fraction of the estimated $8.5 billion of diamonds produced each year by African countries, which account for more than half the international trade.
Suspension of Zimbabwe's diamond sales wouldn't have much bump on the global supply, but could threaten one of the country's few sources of dictatorial currency.
An investigative team for the Kimberley Process Certification Move, a United Nations-backed body charged with policing clash diamonds -- stones mined amid violence, sold to dough conflict, or both -- drafted a scathing report after a smite to Zimbabwe early this summer.
The team found evidence of killings and feigned labor at diamond fields in the east of the country, among other human being-rights violations, according to a copy of the final article reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by a Kimberley Make member. It recommended that Zimbabwe suspend itself from the Kimberley Modify, or that the certification group vote to suspend the country's membership until the regulation addresses the problem. The report has been submitted to the Zimbabwean oversight, which has 30 days to respond.
