The TIMES OF LONDON published the following report to show another dimension
to Sierra Leone's protracted rebel war. More important than any new
dimension we may read is the extent of Charles Taylor's involvement in the
rebel affair in Sierra Leone, his constant denial notwithstanding. You be
the judge.
Ben
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February 11 1999
Our Foreign Staff report on how the gems trade is fuelling the civil war
Neo-Nazis linked to Freetown rebels
THE United Nations and Western intelligence agencies are investigating a
link between leading members of South Africa's neo-Nazi movement and
President Taylor of Liberia. Together they are suspected of being behind a
multinational criminal consortium backing the rebels in Sierra Leone.
According to Africa Confidential, an authoritative fortnightly newsletter
based in London, officials monitoring the arms embargo against Liberia,
which is sponsoring rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone, have been taking a
close interest in Fred Rundle, a retired South African Army colonel.
Mr Rundle, who is a former spokesman for the far-right Afrikaner
Weestandsbeweging (AWB), has close ties with the Liberian leader. Mr Taylor
has sent thousands of his fighters to support rebels trying to topple
President Kabbah, the newsletter said. The rebels have recently been
reinforced by 300 Ukrainian mercenaries and hundreds of soldiers from
Burkina Faso.
But the key change in the effectiveness of the rebels, who last month came
close to taking Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, has been an improvement in
their tactics and use of weapons. Intelligence sources said they believe Mr
Taylor had set up camps for the rebels and his own men inside Liberia where
they were being trained in bush warfare by foreign mercenaries.
"Our suspicion is that these people are probably South Africans," said one
intelligence source in West Africa.
Mr Rundle, who has had extensive business dealings with Mr Taylor, has made
several trips to Liberia recently and is involved in mining operations close
to the border with Sierra Leone. The motives of the rebels of the
Revolutionary United Front trying to bring down Mr Kabbah's elected
Government in Sierra Leone have been obscure for years.
The huge profits from the country's diamond mines is a key factor for the
backers and organisers of the rebels. Sierra Leone's gems are estimated to
be worth £100 million a year to groups which control the diamond-producing
areas in the west, now under the sway of the rebels.
Mr Rundle's partner, Nico Shefer, who was born in Ecuador and was once in
business with the late Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drugs baron, has also
been seen with Mr Taylor and Mr Rundle during visits to Liberia recently,
Africa Confidential reported. Mr Shefer played a key role in Mr Taylor's
1997 election win after years of civil war.
"The interests of Taylor and his crew are clearly not political. They are
after Sierra Leone's diamonds. They want to establish a puppet regime and
then run the country as a criminal enterprise," said an intelligence source.
For now the rebels have been driven out of Freetown by the Nigerian-led West
African peacekeeping force. But Nigeria's military leadership wants to
withdraw its troops by the end of May when it plans to hand over power to a
civilian government to be elected later this month.
Sierra Leone's rebels and their paymasters now have only to wait until May
before launching another attempt to seize Freetown.
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