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Liberia Denies Links With Bin Laden Involved Diamond Smuggling
The Liberian government has expressed "shock and anger" at allegations by a U.S. media accusing it of links with terror suspect Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network involved in diamond smuggling from Sierra Leone, according to reports reaching in Lagos from Monrovia Saturday.
"The Liberian government views these claims as part of an organized smear propaganda campaign intended to discredit this administration and bring it to international disrepute," an Information Ministry statement was quoted as saying on Friday night.
The U.S.-based Washington Post Friday reported that al-Qaeda bought the gems at below market prices through an intermediary from the rebel Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone and smuggled them across Liberia before selling them for a large profit in Europe.
The statement stressed that the Liberian government is not aware of existence of any operative in the country of al-Qaeda terror network headed by Saudi-born billionaire bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.
The document reiterated the government's position that it will arrest and turn over to the U.S. any Liberian found to have connection with al-Qaeda, adding the U.S. government has already been invited to jointly probe these claims with the Liberian government.
Earlier in May this year, the Security Council imposed the fierce sanctions on Liberia, saying that it is involved in gun-running and diamond smuggling with the RUF rebels that has been fueling war in that country for a decade.
It is said that the trade in so-called "blood diamonds" could be as high as 125 million U.S. dollars annually.
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