About 100 politicians representing the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja yesterday night visited Aso Rock. Their mission? To persuade President Goodluck Jonathan to contest in next year’s presidential election.
The group led by Alhaji Hassan Adamu, Wakilin Adamawa arrived the Presidential Villa at about 10pm and were received by President Jonathan.
A source close to the meeting told THISDAY that the deliberation between the President and the Northern politicians who are said to represent the geo-political section of the country which is referred to as the G-20 extended till midnight.
Prof. Jerry Gana was mandated to present the position of the group to the President before spokesmen representing each of the states were mandated to introduce representatives and present the position of their respective states.
Gana, a former information minister under the Obasanjo administration, said the group came to urge the President to contest in the next presidential election as they are sure his candidacy will unite the country and lead her to realise her manifest destiny as a world leader.
The Professor said the people of the North were solidly behind the President based on his ability to deliver on the programmes contained in the manifesto of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the age-long political relationship between the North and the South-south regions.
He added that all indications show that “President Jonathan will receive overwhelming votes from across the country and that we look forward to your swearing-in ceremony on May 29, 2011.”
Adamu who is the leader of the group further said: “We know what we want. We have come here to call you to come out. After 50 years, Nigeria must move forward. We believe in unity and progress of the country, no matter where a person comes from. It is God that brought you and God does not make mistake. The road will be tough and rough but we will succeed.”
In his own speech, Shagari said the call on Jonathan to contest the presidency by a group of top Northern politicians was in fulfilment of the wishes of the founding fathers of Northern politics.
He said: “It was Sardauna and Tafawa Balewa that sat down and said the North should develop a deliberate relationship with the South-south zone. What Sardauna and Tafawa Balewa put together, let no one put asunder.”
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Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Rwanda Holds 2nd Presidential Poll Since Genocide
For weeks, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has rallied his supporters with thumping pop music and promised to build on his economic and social development record that has won him accolades abroad.
As polls prepare to open today at 6 a.m. (0400GMT) in Rwanda's second presidential election since the 1994 genocide, few doubt Kagame will win.
The lean, professorial leader is expected to easily win the loyalties of the country's 5.2 million voters. But the run-up to the campaign has been marred by a series of recent attacks on outspoken critics of Kagame's government, and some of the more vocal opposition politicians say they've been barred from participating.
During the three-week campaign period, Kagame's image has been everywhere. At rallies he shed his business suit and tie for a shirt and jacket emblazoned with his Rwanda Patriotic Front insignia topped with a baseball cap bearing the party's red, white and blue flag. He has also tried to shed his image as a stiff leader, joining in dances and clapping along as crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands sang and danced at his daily rallies across the tiny, landlocked country.
Those rallies were part of a carefully choreographed campaign, which included a local pop group playing what has become the president's re-election theme song, "Tora Kagame," or Vote Kagame in Kinyarwanda, and live updates on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
His supporters say the huge crowds represent genuine popular support for the leader who transformed this central African nation after the brutal 100-day genocide that left at least 500,000 people dead.
Taye Manzi said he trusts Kagame because he has united the nation of 10 million people.
"He supports the youth, he supports gender, he is the one who can bring us together," said Manzi, who took time off from his job in the capital, Kigali, to travel to his home region to attend one of Kagame's rallies.
Kagame, who was elected president by parliament in 2000 and who voters then elected to the post in 2003, will earn another seven-year term if elected. His three challengers are former partners in a coalition government formed soon after the genocide who have posed no real threat. Their electoral platforms are also similar to Kagame's.
Standing near a rally for a Liberal Party candidate, Kagame supporter Ernest Sugira, 19, said that when the president held a rally earlier in the week, the scene had been different.
"When Kagame was here there were so many people," Sugira said. "Today these people are wearing the colors of the other parties, but they'll all end up voting for Kagame in the end."
More vocal opposition leaders who may have run a more challenging campaign, however, say they've been barred from contesting or worse. And the government-appointed media council has clamped down on independent newspapers publishing dissenting views.
On July 14, Frank Habineza, the president of the unregistered opposition Democratic Green Party, received a phone call he had been dreading. A day after he had been reported missing, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, the party's vice president, had been found dead.
When Habineza saw Rwisereka's corpse, he was shocked. Rwisereka appeared to have been brutally tortured, with his head nearly removed from his body. Habineza said he does not believe police claims that Rwisereka was killed over a business dispute. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded a full investigation into the slaying.
"Before we were talking about democracy, but now we are talking about our lives," Habineza said. "It is a very scary moment."
Rwisereka's gruesome death was just the latest in a series of recent attacks on outspoken critics of Kagame's government. On June 19, former army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot and wounded outside his home in South Africa, several months after he fled Rwanda after being linked to a string of deadly grenade attacks in Kigali.
Five days after the shooting in South Africa, Jean-Leonard Rugambage, a journalist at a critical newspaper in the capital, was shot dead outside his home in Kigali hours after publishing an online article linking Rwandan intelligence to the attack. The Rwandan government has denied any involvement in the killings, pointing to the arrest of two men who said they had gunned Rugambage down over a personal vendetta.
"We certainly might not be a model government for a lot of people, but we're not a stupid government, and we will not try to kill three people in a row right before election, an election in which we believe strongly that President Paul Kagame would win," said Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.
Many have hailed Rwanda's positive transformation since the genocide, but analysts have warned that economic progress does not guarantee future stability.
"The material progress is visible — one cannot deny that," said Muzong Kodi, of the London-based Chatham House think tank. "But it has been acquired at a cost of civil liberties and the long-term stability in the country."
Kodi said that while a strongman may have been needed in the wake of the genocide, cementing the achievements made so far will require more openness in the future.
"Without opening up the political space in Rwanda all the material gains that have been made could be put in jeopardy," Kodi said.
As polls prepare to open today at 6 a.m. (0400GMT) in Rwanda's second presidential election since the 1994 genocide, few doubt Kagame will win.
The lean, professorial leader is expected to easily win the loyalties of the country's 5.2 million voters. But the run-up to the campaign has been marred by a series of recent attacks on outspoken critics of Kagame's government, and some of the more vocal opposition politicians say they've been barred from participating.
During the three-week campaign period, Kagame's image has been everywhere. At rallies he shed his business suit and tie for a shirt and jacket emblazoned with his Rwanda Patriotic Front insignia topped with a baseball cap bearing the party's red, white and blue flag. He has also tried to shed his image as a stiff leader, joining in dances and clapping along as crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands sang and danced at his daily rallies across the tiny, landlocked country.
Those rallies were part of a carefully choreographed campaign, which included a local pop group playing what has become the president's re-election theme song, "Tora Kagame," or Vote Kagame in Kinyarwanda, and live updates on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
His supporters say the huge crowds represent genuine popular support for the leader who transformed this central African nation after the brutal 100-day genocide that left at least 500,000 people dead.
Taye Manzi said he trusts Kagame because he has united the nation of 10 million people.
"He supports the youth, he supports gender, he is the one who can bring us together," said Manzi, who took time off from his job in the capital, Kigali, to travel to his home region to attend one of Kagame's rallies.
Kagame, who was elected president by parliament in 2000 and who voters then elected to the post in 2003, will earn another seven-year term if elected. His three challengers are former partners in a coalition government formed soon after the genocide who have posed no real threat. Their electoral platforms are also similar to Kagame's.
Standing near a rally for a Liberal Party candidate, Kagame supporter Ernest Sugira, 19, said that when the president held a rally earlier in the week, the scene had been different.
"When Kagame was here there were so many people," Sugira said. "Today these people are wearing the colors of the other parties, but they'll all end up voting for Kagame in the end."
More vocal opposition leaders who may have run a more challenging campaign, however, say they've been barred from contesting or worse. And the government-appointed media council has clamped down on independent newspapers publishing dissenting views.
On July 14, Frank Habineza, the president of the unregistered opposition Democratic Green Party, received a phone call he had been dreading. A day after he had been reported missing, Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, the party's vice president, had been found dead.
When Habineza saw Rwisereka's corpse, he was shocked. Rwisereka appeared to have been brutally tortured, with his head nearly removed from his body. Habineza said he does not believe police claims that Rwisereka was killed over a business dispute. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded a full investigation into the slaying.
"Before we were talking about democracy, but now we are talking about our lives," Habineza said. "It is a very scary moment."
Rwisereka's gruesome death was just the latest in a series of recent attacks on outspoken critics of Kagame's government. On June 19, former army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot and wounded outside his home in South Africa, several months after he fled Rwanda after being linked to a string of deadly grenade attacks in Kigali.
Five days after the shooting in South Africa, Jean-Leonard Rugambage, a journalist at a critical newspaper in the capital, was shot dead outside his home in Kigali hours after publishing an online article linking Rwandan intelligence to the attack. The Rwandan government has denied any involvement in the killings, pointing to the arrest of two men who said they had gunned Rugambage down over a personal vendetta.
"We certainly might not be a model government for a lot of people, but we're not a stupid government, and we will not try to kill three people in a row right before election, an election in which we believe strongly that President Paul Kagame would win," said Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.
Many have hailed Rwanda's positive transformation since the genocide, but analysts have warned that economic progress does not guarantee future stability.
"The material progress is visible — one cannot deny that," said Muzong Kodi, of the London-based Chatham House think tank. "But it has been acquired at a cost of civil liberties and the long-term stability in the country."
Kodi said that while a strongman may have been needed in the wake of the genocide, cementing the achievements made so far will require more openness in the future.
"Without opening up the political space in Rwanda all the material gains that have been made could be put in jeopardy," Kodi said.
Yobe ANPP, PDP Return to the Trenches
Yobe State Nigeria has always been the stronghold the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), since 1999 when the country returned to democracy. The party has continued to dominate the politics of the state, with little resistance from the opposition.
Though in 2007, ANPP was able to win the governorship and majority of seats in the House of Assembly but it was a pyrrhic victory. ANPP victory was subjected to a protracted legal battle between the late Governor Mamman Ali and Senator Usman Albishir.
Ali’s former deputy, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam is now left to carry on the battle. For now, ANPP has conceded the gubernatorial ticket to Gaidam and has also adopted candidates for the National Assembly seats in the state
This, according to a source, is to allow enough time for reconciliation in the party before the election. The party has also kicked off its campaign with rallies and one is not surprised that the first rally took place in Gashua in the Yobe North senatorial district. This was for obvious reason as the zone is under severe threat of being taken over by the opposition as some ANPP leaders in the zone have defected to PDP. They are include Albishir (who had represented the zone in the Senate twice), Hon. Ya’u Galadima (who won the ticket to represent Jakusko/Bade constituency in the House of Representatives )and Architect Shettima Saleh (who was a governorship aspirant at the last election and also a commissioner in the present administration until recently, when he defected).
With the belief that they are going to be a major threat to the victory of ANPP at the polls, Albishir had boasted that “ANPP is a sinking ship which has lost its bearing,” and that he has to leave before it finally collapses. Accoding to him “ANPP is deceased; we invested so much in the party. I was the founder of the party in Yobe State, in 1999 I was the person who brought the party here, I worked very hard to build the party in the state, I did my best, but, unfortunately some bad elements crept into the party and destroyed everything.”
“Before, ANPP stood for justice; it stood for fairness in the beginning. But unfortunately along the line, there were so many bad people, who are greedy, a group of bad elements who came into the party and destroyed it, even some of the founding fathers of the party, I don’t have to mention names, contributed immensely to the destruction of the party. So I decided that before things become worse, I better move out. So, I have found a lasting and more durable platform for my people in the PDP.”
This sentiment was also expressed by Saleh who was told to forget his senatorial ambition as the the party will favour the incumbent senator, Ahmed Lawal .
Saleh said the signals are there for everyone to see that the time is up for the ANPP which has formed government in the state since 1999. He revealed that he decided to resign from the cabinet of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam when he discovered that the governor was running ANPP in the state as his personal property.
But ANPP organized the rally to send a message to the opposition in the state that it still remains strong in the state. Former governor of the state, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim who was happy about the crowd at the rally “with the crowd I saw in Potiskum and here (Gashua), I have no doubt in my mind that ANPP is going to win the state. I can boast to say that any party I joined since 1983, when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe raised my hand up in Gashua on this ground, has always won in the state and this will continue in 2011 and beyond. As far as I am concerned it was only two persons that left ANPP, Usman Albishir and Tijjani Zannah Zakariyya, the former speaker.”
He added that “PDP is a spent force in Yobe and no one is willing to vote for the party in Yobe. If PDP win just one seat in Yobe, I will retire from politics.”
Gaidam said he was surprise with the massive turn-out of the people at the rally and that it was an indication that the people of the zone are with his administration and the party.
Alhaji Sidi Karasuwa, a former party chairman, and present commissioner for housing who spoke at the rally said:“Those who left for PDP are there just to contest and continue with their usual activities of looting the treasury and we thank God that they are now with us. They are even political liabilities to the ANPP.”
He added that “those who left the ANPP for other parties especially Senator Usman Albishir and his followers when they come back to us, we will turn them back. ANPP will continue to rule the state beyond 2011 and even for another 20 years.”
On his part, Dr. Ahmed Lawal, the senator representing Yobe North said “it is a known fact that this zone is for ANPP and when the election comes, we will show them that it remains ANPP. We are supposed to be three from this zone that are in the National Assembly but the whirlwind of corruption has taken one of us away. We are going to do everything to ensure that the zone is won by the ANPP and that the number of votes are more than what the party got in 1999, 2003 and 2007.”
The senator also said “we will also ensure that the House of Representatives seat in the hands of PDP is taking back. We are going to do everything to make the impact of the party felt in every home.”
Despite the exit of Albishir, Saleh and Galadima, Sidi Karasuwa said that government, after discovering that it is going to be a battle to win back the state, got to work immediately and was able to impact on the lives of the people of the state which was seen in the massive turn-out of people at the rally.
Karasuwa who was a former commissioner for education said the present administration has done enough to improving the school system by providing infrastructure and learning materials, construction of boarding junior secondary schools in all the six local governments in the zone of Nguru, Bade, Karasuwa, Jakusko, Machina and Yusufari.
He further revealed that the government was able to provide township road in Gashua, construction of tarred road in Jajimaji-Karasuwa (18kms) and rehabilitation of Nguru-Gashua road and provision of tarred road from Nguru-Machina (57kms). Complete rehabilitation of Government Hospital, Gashua and provision of drugs and equipment. The award of contract for Gashua-Yusufari road (about 32kms). Nguru township road and drainage.
The former party chairman said the people of the area could not but show appreciation to the government and ANPP for these and the fact that uncountable numbers of water projects have been commissioned which have improved their lives and economic activities.
He said with people like Senator Ahmed Lawal, Engr. Baba Goni Machina, Hon. Baba Machinama, Hon. Adamu Dala Dogo and Alhaji Sani Inuwa Nguru . Yobe North would not queue behind any other party.
Though in 2007, ANPP was able to win the governorship and majority of seats in the House of Assembly but it was a pyrrhic victory. ANPP victory was subjected to a protracted legal battle between the late Governor Mamman Ali and Senator Usman Albishir.
Ali’s former deputy, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam is now left to carry on the battle. For now, ANPP has conceded the gubernatorial ticket to Gaidam and has also adopted candidates for the National Assembly seats in the state
This, according to a source, is to allow enough time for reconciliation in the party before the election. The party has also kicked off its campaign with rallies and one is not surprised that the first rally took place in Gashua in the Yobe North senatorial district. This was for obvious reason as the zone is under severe threat of being taken over by the opposition as some ANPP leaders in the zone have defected to PDP. They are include Albishir (who had represented the zone in the Senate twice), Hon. Ya’u Galadima (who won the ticket to represent Jakusko/Bade constituency in the House of Representatives )and Architect Shettima Saleh (who was a governorship aspirant at the last election and also a commissioner in the present administration until recently, when he defected).
With the belief that they are going to be a major threat to the victory of ANPP at the polls, Albishir had boasted that “ANPP is a sinking ship which has lost its bearing,” and that he has to leave before it finally collapses. Accoding to him “ANPP is deceased; we invested so much in the party. I was the founder of the party in Yobe State, in 1999 I was the person who brought the party here, I worked very hard to build the party in the state, I did my best, but, unfortunately some bad elements crept into the party and destroyed everything.”
“Before, ANPP stood for justice; it stood for fairness in the beginning. But unfortunately along the line, there were so many bad people, who are greedy, a group of bad elements who came into the party and destroyed it, even some of the founding fathers of the party, I don’t have to mention names, contributed immensely to the destruction of the party. So I decided that before things become worse, I better move out. So, I have found a lasting and more durable platform for my people in the PDP.”
This sentiment was also expressed by Saleh who was told to forget his senatorial ambition as the the party will favour the incumbent senator, Ahmed Lawal .
Saleh said the signals are there for everyone to see that the time is up for the ANPP which has formed government in the state since 1999. He revealed that he decided to resign from the cabinet of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam when he discovered that the governor was running ANPP in the state as his personal property.
But ANPP organized the rally to send a message to the opposition in the state that it still remains strong in the state. Former governor of the state, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim who was happy about the crowd at the rally “with the crowd I saw in Potiskum and here (Gashua), I have no doubt in my mind that ANPP is going to win the state. I can boast to say that any party I joined since 1983, when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe raised my hand up in Gashua on this ground, has always won in the state and this will continue in 2011 and beyond. As far as I am concerned it was only two persons that left ANPP, Usman Albishir and Tijjani Zannah Zakariyya, the former speaker.”
He added that “PDP is a spent force in Yobe and no one is willing to vote for the party in Yobe. If PDP win just one seat in Yobe, I will retire from politics.”
Gaidam said he was surprise with the massive turn-out of the people at the rally and that it was an indication that the people of the zone are with his administration and the party.
Alhaji Sidi Karasuwa, a former party chairman, and present commissioner for housing who spoke at the rally said:“Those who left for PDP are there just to contest and continue with their usual activities of looting the treasury and we thank God that they are now with us. They are even political liabilities to the ANPP.”
He added that “those who left the ANPP for other parties especially Senator Usman Albishir and his followers when they come back to us, we will turn them back. ANPP will continue to rule the state beyond 2011 and even for another 20 years.”
On his part, Dr. Ahmed Lawal, the senator representing Yobe North said “it is a known fact that this zone is for ANPP and when the election comes, we will show them that it remains ANPP. We are supposed to be three from this zone that are in the National Assembly but the whirlwind of corruption has taken one of us away. We are going to do everything to ensure that the zone is won by the ANPP and that the number of votes are more than what the party got in 1999, 2003 and 2007.”
The senator also said “we will also ensure that the House of Representatives seat in the hands of PDP is taking back. We are going to do everything to make the impact of the party felt in every home.”
Despite the exit of Albishir, Saleh and Galadima, Sidi Karasuwa said that government, after discovering that it is going to be a battle to win back the state, got to work immediately and was able to impact on the lives of the people of the state which was seen in the massive turn-out of people at the rally.
Karasuwa who was a former commissioner for education said the present administration has done enough to improving the school system by providing infrastructure and learning materials, construction of boarding junior secondary schools in all the six local governments in the zone of Nguru, Bade, Karasuwa, Jakusko, Machina and Yusufari.
He further revealed that the government was able to provide township road in Gashua, construction of tarred road in Jajimaji-Karasuwa (18kms) and rehabilitation of Nguru-Gashua road and provision of tarred road from Nguru-Machina (57kms). Complete rehabilitation of Government Hospital, Gashua and provision of drugs and equipment. The award of contract for Gashua-Yusufari road (about 32kms). Nguru township road and drainage.
The former party chairman said the people of the area could not but show appreciation to the government and ANPP for these and the fact that uncountable numbers of water projects have been commissioned which have improved their lives and economic activities.
He said with people like Senator Ahmed Lawal, Engr. Baba Goni Machina, Hon. Baba Machinama, Hon. Adamu Dala Dogo and Alhaji Sani Inuwa Nguru . Yobe North would not queue behind any other party.
Actress to Challenge Campbell Diamonds Testimony
Supermodel Naomi Campbell's testimony at Charles Taylor's war crimes trial is likely to be challenged today when a Hollywood film star and a modelling agent take the stand.
Both Mia Farrow and Carole White are liable to contradict Campbell when they take the stand at the "blood diamonds" trial of the former Liberian president at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague.
Court documents suggest that White will testify that Campbell knew in advance she would get diamonds from Taylor after a dinner in South Africa in 1997 -- and that she seemed disappointed with the "pebbles" she had received.
White recalled seeing two men at Campbell's room giving her "a scrubby piece of paper" containing about a half-dozen "small, greyish pebbles".
She will also testify that Campbell and Taylor were "mildly flirtatious" at the dinner -- an impression that Campbell denies -- and that she heard Taylor tell the 40-year-old supermodel that he was going to give her some diamonds.
White "heard Taylor tell Ms Campbell that he was going to send her diamonds," according to notes of an interview that prosecutors conducted with White.
"It was arranged that he would send some men back with the gift."
According to White, the court documents added, Campbell "seemed excited about the diamonds and she kept talking about them".
Farrow, who also attended the dinner, has told prosecutors that Campbell had told her and other guests an "unforgettable story" the day after the event.
"She told us that she had been awakened in the night by knocking at her door, she opened the door to find two or three men, I do not recall how many, who presented her with a large diamond which they said was from Charles Taylor," says Farrow's statement.
Taylor, 62, is accused of receiving blood diamonds in return for arming rebels in Sierra Leone who murdered, raped and maimed civilians during a 1991-2001 civil war in the west African nation in which 120,000 died.
Prosecutors had subpoenaed Campbell in hopes of casting doubt on Taylor's credibility and to try to disprove his contention that he never possessed rough diamonds.
Campbell testified on Thursday that two unknown men had delivered to her room.
"dirty-looking stones" after a dinner she attended in South Africa, hosted by then president Nelson Mandela, at which she was seated next to Taylor.
"I saw a few stones in there. Very small, dirty-looking stones ... maybe three, two or three," she told the court.
At breakfast the next morning, she added, she told White -- founder of Premier Model Management in London and her agent at the time -- and Farrow about the gift, both of whom assumed the stones were diamonds.
"One of the two said 'that is obviously Charles Taylor' and I said 'yes I guess it was'," she told the court, adding that she later gave the stones to a representative of a Mandela charity.
Jeremy Ratcliffe, then head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, who Campbell said she gave the "dirty-looking stones" to, announced Friday that he had turned them over to police in South Africa for authentication.
"They are real diamonds, handed back to us now, and the investigation begins," said Musa Zondi, spokesman for the special investigations unit of the South African police on Saturday.
On whether Campbell would be questioned, Zondi said: "It would depend on the information we have and the information we still need. There is no cut and dried (that) this will happen or won't happen."
Both Mia Farrow and Carole White are liable to contradict Campbell when they take the stand at the "blood diamonds" trial of the former Liberian president at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague.
Court documents suggest that White will testify that Campbell knew in advance she would get diamonds from Taylor after a dinner in South Africa in 1997 -- and that she seemed disappointed with the "pebbles" she had received.
White recalled seeing two men at Campbell's room giving her "a scrubby piece of paper" containing about a half-dozen "small, greyish pebbles".
She will also testify that Campbell and Taylor were "mildly flirtatious" at the dinner -- an impression that Campbell denies -- and that she heard Taylor tell the 40-year-old supermodel that he was going to give her some diamonds.
White "heard Taylor tell Ms Campbell that he was going to send her diamonds," according to notes of an interview that prosecutors conducted with White.
"It was arranged that he would send some men back with the gift."
According to White, the court documents added, Campbell "seemed excited about the diamonds and she kept talking about them".
Farrow, who also attended the dinner, has told prosecutors that Campbell had told her and other guests an "unforgettable story" the day after the event.
"She told us that she had been awakened in the night by knocking at her door, she opened the door to find two or three men, I do not recall how many, who presented her with a large diamond which they said was from Charles Taylor," says Farrow's statement.
Taylor, 62, is accused of receiving blood diamonds in return for arming rebels in Sierra Leone who murdered, raped and maimed civilians during a 1991-2001 civil war in the west African nation in which 120,000 died.
Prosecutors had subpoenaed Campbell in hopes of casting doubt on Taylor's credibility and to try to disprove his contention that he never possessed rough diamonds.
Campbell testified on Thursday that two unknown men had delivered to her room.
"dirty-looking stones" after a dinner she attended in South Africa, hosted by then president Nelson Mandela, at which she was seated next to Taylor.
"I saw a few stones in there. Very small, dirty-looking stones ... maybe three, two or three," she told the court.
At breakfast the next morning, she added, she told White -- founder of Premier Model Management in London and her agent at the time -- and Farrow about the gift, both of whom assumed the stones were diamonds.
"One of the two said 'that is obviously Charles Taylor' and I said 'yes I guess it was'," she told the court, adding that she later gave the stones to a representative of a Mandela charity.
Jeremy Ratcliffe, then head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, who Campbell said she gave the "dirty-looking stones" to, announced Friday that he had turned them over to police in South Africa for authentication.
"They are real diamonds, handed back to us now, and the investigation begins," said Musa Zondi, spokesman for the special investigations unit of the South African police on Saturday.
On whether Campbell would be questioned, Zondi said: "It would depend on the information we have and the information we still need. There is no cut and dried (that) this will happen or won't happen."
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