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CHARLES TAYLOR has steadfastly denied any involvement with “blood diamonds”, as the gems that have financed many of Africa’s civil wars or bloodiest regimes have become known. The issue is central to claims at his Hague war crimes trial that the former Liberian president used diamonds to finance a 1990s rebellion in Sierra Leone during which tens of thousands were killed, raped or mutilated.

Mr Taylor, the second former head of state to face justice at a UN-backed tribunal, is charged with offences including murder, conscripting child soldiers and terrorising and mutilating civilians. Critical to the prosecution is establishing a direct link with the rebel Revolutionary United Front to show he used their diamonds to buy arms, allegedly shipped to the Sierra Leone junta in October 1997. Supplying a small piece of the jigsaw yesterday, supermodel Naomi Campbell brought the spotlight of mass publicity to the tribunal with testimony on receiving a pouch of rough diamonds from men she believed were Mr Taylor’s aides after a 1997 party hosted by Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Others have testified to the delivery of gems to Taylor’s home in Monrovia.