Diamonds are forever: the trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor for war crimes is only a first-step towards justice in Africa

Arena Magazine, August-Sept, 2006 by James Scambury

On April 4 this year, Liberian leader Charles Taylor made his first appearance before the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The Special Court was set up in 2002 to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Sierra Leone's armed conflict. The first African head of state to be indicted for war crimes, Taylor has been charged with arming, training and financing the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war.

There is little doubt of Taylor's guilt. He came to power at the head of his National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebel group in UN brokered elections in 1997, after a nine-year civil war. The corruption and brutality of his regime soon provoked a new insurgency, ending with his downfall and exile to Nigeria in 11 August 2003. Taylor's quest for power and wealth ravaged not only his own country through decades of war, but also those surrounding it. At least 300,000 people died in conflicts he stoked in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Unfortunately for him, he was as reckless as he was rapacious, sponsoring a number of regional insurgencies. While there was little the weak and fractured government of Sierra Leone could do to withstand the RUF onslaught, Taylor's support of rebel movements against regional strongmen in Guinea and Ivory Coast proved his undoing, when they reciprocated with rebel movements on Liberian soil.

Nine other alleged leading perpetrators are already on trial there. One of these is Brima 'Bazzy' Kamara, alleged to have been one of the 17 members of the military coup on 25 May 1997 in Freetown that overthrew the elected government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. These soldiers were allied to the AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council), led by Johnny Paul Koroma. Kamara is also alleged to have been Commander of the AFRC/RUF forces in the north, east and the centre of the country where a series of atrocities were inflicted on civilians. Fellow coup leaders and senior RUF/AFRC officers Santigie Borbor Kanu, Alex Tamba Brima, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao will also face trial for an array of human rights violations.

From the other side of the conflict is Samuel Hinga Norman. Norman was allegedly the national co-ordinator of the Civil Defence Force (CDF), and the other main pro-government militia made up of traditional hunters, the Kamajors. The CDF and the Kamajors are said to have committed a series of atrocities against civilians suspected of siding with the AFRC/RUF. Both sides are indicted for the forced recruitment of child soldiers. Norman will face trial together with two other leading members of the CDF, Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa.

Compared to Taylor, however, these are fairly small players. None of the other major instigators in the conflict will face trial. Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh died in custody in July 2003; Sam Bockarie was killed in Liberia in May 2003. Former military leader Johnny Paul Koroma is now on the run, but many believe that he, too, might be dead.

All those on trial are African, yet Taylor's regime, and his regional destabilisation campaign, were sustained by sophisticated international diamond, timber and arms smuggling networks and a host of clandestine mercenary outfits, evading international trade sanctions against Liberia and Sierra Leone with ease. Those responsible for these networks are equally culpable.

One such figure was Gus Kouwenhoven, director of Liberia-based Oriental Timber Company (OTC). Timber was an important illegal resource base for Taylor and, as reported in the Global Witness report 'The Usual Suspects', the OTC's control of the Buchanan Port and a fleet of logging ships made it an integral player in the illegal arms trade. The OTC also maintained a brutal militia of over 2500 fighters. Kouwenhoven was arrested in Holland on 23 May 2005, but will be tried under Dutch War and Economic Crimes Laws, not the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

According to the Global Witness report, OTC is the sole exporter of Liberian logs to China, and OTC's Chinese parent companies are closely tied to the Chinese government. China is the largest importing country for Liberian timber, but it was not alone in its taste for this illicit resource. The same report cites the World Trade Atlas as stating that the total amount of Liberian timber imported by its 37 reporting countries totalled US$152 million. Of that, the European Union as a whole imported US$72.6 million of Liberian timber in 2002, with France importing US$35 million. Global Witness believes that even these figures are considerably understated.

Diamonds were undoubtedly Taylor's most vital source of income for weapons procurement. A key arms supplier for the Taylor regime was Leonid Minin, also one of the most infamous figures in the illicit diamond trade. Arrested in Milan on 5 August 2000, Minin was subsequently set free on a technicality and returned to Israel. Minin and other figures like Victor Bout, Arkadi Gaydamak, Mark Rich and Pier Falcone have appeared repeatedly in countless reports on diamond and gun-running cases, not just in Sierra Leone and Liberia but throughout Africa, suggesting a global criminal syndicate.