Britons named in UN report on 'blood diamonds'

The Times (UK)
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
22 December 2000

British middlemen have been directly involved in the "blood. diamonds"
traffic in Africa, United Nations reports released this week reveal.

Despite Britain's attempts to stamp out the arms for diamonds trade in
Angola and Sierra Leone, the UN said that Britons helped to transport
weapons that ended up in rebel hands and re-registered aircraft used in
illicit shipments. In addition, one of the key figures in the
multimillion pound operation may travel under an assumed name on a
British passport.

Yesterday Peter Hain, the Foreign Office Minister responsible for
Africa, vowed that Britain would actively support the UN's proposed
sanctions against Liberia and other African countries that have profited
from civil strife.

In particular, President Taylor of Liberia is accused of masterminding
the illegal diamond trade from Sierra Leone and of arming the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the rebel group responsible for
the deaths and mutilation of thousands of civilians.

Next month the UN Security Council is expected to propose sanctions that
would ban any further diamond exports from Liberia, halt the country's
timber exports and seize assets belonging to Mr Taylor and his regime.
Liberian aircraft would also be grounded and officials barred from
travel abroad.

Nevertheless, the reports made it clear that the trade would not be
possible without the help of scores of foreign middlemen ranging from
South African mercenaries to Israeli arms dealers and British aviation
companies.

In one case in March 1999, Air Foyle, a Luton-based company acting as an
agent for a Ukrainian airline, flew 68 tonnes of Ukrainian weapons and
ammunition to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. While the
contract, handled by the Gibraltar-based company Chartered Engineering
and Technical Services, was legal, within days the weapons were
illegally re-routed to Liberia and finally into the hands of the rebels
in Sierra Leone.

A spokesman for Air Foyle said last night that the company had acted in
good faith on a government-to-government contract and had co-operated
fully with the UN investigation.

One Briton, whose name appears in both the Angolan and Sierra Leonean
reports, is Michael Harridine, a director of the Aircraft Registration
Bureau Limited of Whitstable in Kent.

Mr Harridine, described as an associate of Victor Bout, the alleged
mastermind behind much of the the illegal diamonds-for-arms trade,
helped to re-register Liberian aircraft to "flags of convenience".

He was formerly chairman of the Liberian Civil Regulatory Authority.
When confronted by UN investigators he admitted that there were
"irregularities" in Liberia's aircraft registration but insisted that he
no longer had business links with the country. There was no answer from
his office yesterday but his company website still offers to re-register
"all types of civilian aircraft on the registry of Equatorial Guinea",
another West African country.

Anjivan Ruprah, a Kenyan national of Asian origin, was also named as a
key figure in Liberia involved not only in the re-registering of
aircraft, but also in arms dealing. The UN said that he usually traveled
on a Liberian diplomatic passport under the name of Samir Nasr, and
there are suspicions that he may also have a British passport
under another name.

Mr Hain said yesterday that he had personally barred Mr Ruprah from
visiting Britain earlier this year and that, armed with the details in
the latest report, further action should be taken swiftly against those
profiting from the trade.

"Quite aside from what is going on at the UN we have been pressing a
number of countries individually to halt the activities of the
middlemen," Mr Hain told The Times.

"It is not just a matter of international importance. It is also a
matter of the lives of British soldiers at risk on the ground in Sierra
Leone from the continued supply of weapons to the rebels."

America is expected to take the lead in pushing through the sanctions
package against Liberia at the Security Council early next year. It is
hoped that the move will be completed before the end of President
Clinton's term on January 20. The incoming Bush Administration is said
to be just as interested in pursuing the matter.