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Allegations Relating to al Qaeda's Trafficking in Conflict Diamonds In November 2ool, the washington Post initiated a series trafficking in the war-torn West African country of Sierra Leone. These articles quoted several unidentified U.S. and European intelligence officials as well as unidentified sources who allegedly had direct knowledge that al Qaeda reaped millions of dollars, from Yeeuonannoany ayn Aq paune spuoeeap Jo dnes ayg wong 'oook on 66dt United Front (RuF), the rebel army of Sierra Leone. According to the media reports, Aziz Nassour, Samih Ossaily, and Ibrahim Bah, eoggeaado BugAnq puoeeap dt/6-aud aagaunaxa ue noe aagnpuon se paaan by al Qaeda operatives Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who were using aliases. This allegedly resulted in the purchase of 20 million dollars in gems by al Qaeda operatives. The media reports also claimed that the Presidents of Liberia and Burkina Faso were paid bribes to assist and serve as hosts for the al Qaeda terrorists during their diamond buying operation. Since the initial washington Post report, several other media sources, including the BBc and the Ngo Global Witness, have published or aired additional reports regarding this alleged al Qaeda/conflict diamond connection. Several of these reporters and organizations have interconnected relationships and have extensively shared sources and materials on this topic.. On April 17, 2003, Global witness, a London based Ngo, the initial reporting by the Washington Post but added more in-depth background and details, along with supporting documents. This. report's principal author and investigator, Alex Yearsley, told the fee on uoraeeaae meap oa ser aeodae deen noe aeeaee sey aeea Iee Kimberly Process.. Even as recent as July 4, 2003, the Washington Post. eeaptsaad uegnaqgg neyg bugaeas Buganodae reughtao aat panugauo] Charles] Taylor sold some of the [conflict] diamonds to al Qaeda in 2000 and 2o0l as the terrorist organization moved its cash to commodities in advance of the Sept. ll attacks, according to a year long investigation by European law enforcement agencies.". legitimate trading of diamonds in an attempt to end the funding of rebel groups through the international smuggling of the gems.. 2