Celebrities should not detract from crucial war-crimes trial

Although the criminal trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor on 11 charges of murder, rape, enslavement and conscription of child soldiers began three years ago, it was only this week that people who have little interest in the bloody civil wars in Africa began taking notice.

That’s because two of the witnesses called to testify before the international judicial tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, are celebrities known around the world. The first was supermodel Naomi Campbell, who had received a gift of diamonds from Taylor in 1997. The second was Actress Mia Farrow, who testified that Campbell had boasted to her about receiving a huge diamond from Taylor.

It is unfortunate that the public’s interest in this case has been piqued by the presence of celebrities, but now that it has, perhaps people of honor will spend the time to find why the trial is so important.

The former president of Liberia is accused of terrorizing the people of neighboring Sierra Leone by orchestrating atrocities committed by militias. Their brutality and inhumanity were evidenced by the practice of hacking off their victims’ limbs. The 10-year civil war ended in 2003, but by then the victim count ran well into the hundreds of thousands.

Why would one West African leader fuel a civil war in another country? Because Taylor wanted to get his hands on diamonds from Sierra Leone.

The human cost of this and other such expeditions gave rise to the name “blood diamonds” — or conflict diamonds.

Such diamonds were smuggled out of Africa and proceeds of their sale financed wars across Africa in the 1990s and into the new century.

Those wars resulted in millions of Africans being killed or maimed for life. The diamonds were sold in rich western nations.

Because of the death and destruction brought on by these gem stones, nations around the world, including the United States, have attempted to stop the trade.

Taylor’s trial — he is the first former African leader to be brought before an international tribunal — not only is important from the standpoint of holding rogue heads of state responsible for the atrocities committed in their names, but to shed light on the whole issue of blood diamonds.

The public should continue to follow the trial closely.

Diamond mines

Revolutionary armies fighting for control of the diamond mines have left a wide path of death and destruction. Here are some numbers to keep in mind as Taylor continues to insist that he is innocent: At least 3.7 million people killed; 6.5 million driven from their homes; 12,000 children forced to become soldiers in conflicts they do not understand.

In Sierra Leone’s vicious decades-long civil war, which ended in 2002, an estimated 100,000 people died.

When Charles Taylor dismisses the suggestion that he was involved in the diamond trade as “complete, complete nonsense,” the facts on the ground and the blood of the innocents tell a different story.

This is a case that demands our attention — even when there aren’t celebrities on the witness stand.