A few days ago I saw this story that supermodel Naomi Campbell may have received a “blood diamond” from former Liberian president/dictator Charles Taylor. Taylor is currently trial in an international court in the Netherlands for his many crimes including his contributions to the atrocities in Sierra Leone by trading guns for diamonds. A prosecutor alleged that Taylor had given a large diamond to Campbell that may have been a stone that he had been given along with others to purchase weapons for Sierra Leone rebels from South African gun dealers. The alleged transaction took place at a dinner in South Africa in 1997 attended by Nelson Mandela, Campbell, Quincy Jones, and Mia Farrow. Taylor denied the claim. Campbell has supposedly “cooperated with the prosecution” but there’s no word on whether or not she corroborated the story.
It’s a strange twist in a long trial against a man who deserves every condemnation but I wonder why they are bringing Ms. Campbell into this. The idea that a diamond is only a “blood diamond” if it passes from the hands of an African dictator is pretty laughable. Most of the conflict stones passed nimbly through Africa and right into some of the world’s top jewelry stores. I’d wager that Ms. Campbell wore more conflict stones in her modeling days than she ever got from the hands of one evil man trying to impress a beautiful woman. Terrible things happened in Sierra Leone, Taylor played his part but I don’t think splashing the words Naomi Campbell and blood diamond across the news does anything to bring attention to the trials in any positive way.
