Pursuing this intriguing strand of the Charles Taylor story I discussed earlier. An interesting bit emerged at former president Taylor’s trial two weeks ago: apparently Charles Taylor provided a diamond to supermodel Naomi Campbell–at least, according to an affidavit provide to the prosecution by Mia Farrow.
So how did this come about?
The only occasion I could pin down where all three of these people may have been in a room together was a benefit for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in South Africa in either September or October of 1997. (Quincy Jones was also there.) Both Farrow and Campbell are active supporters of Mandela; Taylor, presumably, was there in his capacity as the very-recently elected head of state of Liberia.
Did a diamond change hands at this event?
Well, through her spokesperson, Campbell would only say that she is “assisting the special prosecutor where possible but beyond that has nothing to add.” Farrow I’ve been completely unsuccessful at reaching. And Taylor, well presumably, he’ll be discussing this as his cross-examination continues at the Hague.
But all this business about diamonds, supermodels, movie stars–does it matter? At that time, there were no UN sanctions on Liberian diamonds–or those from Sierra Leone. And the notion of conflict diamonds as a political (or even social) taboo hadn’t developed–Kanye’s song came out in 2005. If the diamond was a gift, it’d take a lot of foresight–or knowledge of West African politics– to know the strings that came attached to it. There is that simple rule: beware of strangers bearing gifts.
Will this have any bearing on the criminal trial? I’d imagine in a case as drawn out and, at times, obtuse as this one any scene that grounds a core prosecution theory of criminal greed with familiar faces can’t hurt.
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Naomi Campbell may say she’s cooperating with prosecutors, but the prosecutors at the Hague who want her to testify about the “diamond thing” say she’s “unavailable”.
I’m not a sophisticated international star, but to a plain guy like me a few things seems strange…
-Is it credible that a politically engaged Naomi Campbell was unaware of what was going on in Liberia and Sierra Leone when she met with Taylor?
-Just because the catch phrase “blood diamonds” hadn’t been invented yet, doesn’t mean that there weren’t A LOT of people dying over them. And that was no secret. (Even if there wasn’t a song about it yet…eyes rolling)
-Am I to believe that Taylor dropped a big ol’ raw diamond on Naomi, having never met her before, and got nothing but the warm feeling of giving out of it?
This all leaves me feeling like my leg’s being pulled. Perhaps Naomi didn’t know Taylor was a psychopathic mass murderer. Maybe psychopathic mass murderers toss diamonds her way all the time. Maybe I’m just wrong about this funny feeling…
If so, why doesn’t Naomi respond to the Hague prosecutor’s subpoena, show up, testify, and set the record straight. Nothing she says can be worse than what I’m thinking…I hope.