NGO Publishes al Qaeda Report

Global Witness published a 50 page report on how al Qaeda devised and carried out a ten-year strategic move into what the NGO called “the unregulated diamond trade”. The report details how al Qaeda infiltrated diamond trading networks, took advantage of weak government and trade regulations, organized criminal networks and politically corrupt regimes and to raise funds for al Qaeda operatives and to launder significant sums of money.

The report, ‘For a Few Dollars More, How al Qaeda moved into the diamond trade,’ presents information showing how two senior al Qaeda operatives based in Kenya and Tanzania from 1993, had established diamond mining and trading companies in order to raise funds. Following the 1998 US embassy bombings three further al Qaeda operatives gained access to the illicit diamond trade in Sierra Leone then controlled by the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). 

The report shows how the corrupt regime of President Charles Taylor of Liberia facilitated access for al Qaeda operatives into Sierra Leone and Liberia in exchange for diamonds and weapons. It also presents evidence to show how al Qaeda took advantage of the same illicit diamond trading structures being utilized by Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

In a press release, Global Witness says it questions the failure of governments to significantly address the issue of how al Qaeda and other terrorist entities are using high value commodities. 

“The evidence presented in this report of al Qaeda’s involvement in the diamond trade is a wake up call to governments, the diamond industry and the Kimberley Process,” said Alex Yearsley, Lead Campaigner at Global Witness.

Shmuel Schnitzer, President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, denounced any ties between the legal diamond trade and illicit diamonds. He told IDEX Online today in response to the report that “the Federation totally rejects the connection between diamonds and terrorist organizations” adding that the legitimate diamond industry has nothing to do with such organizations.

Part one of Global Witness report

Part two of Global Witness report