Naomi Campbell testified before the war crimes tribunal Thursday, confirming that she had received some “dirty-looking stones” after a dinner with former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor but stopping short of saying they were diamonds or that she was given the gift by Taylor himself. Campbell was being questioned in Taylor's war crimes trial about claims made by actress Mia Farrow that Taylor gave the model an uncut diamond or diamonds after a dinner party hosted by Nelson Mandela that they all attended in South Africa in 1997. Prosecutors say, if true, the story would provide evidence that Taylor traded guns to neighboring Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for uncut diamonds - sometimes known as “blood diamonds” during that country's 1992-2002 civil war. The British model said on the stand Thursday she was awakened in the middle of the night after the September 1997 dinner party by two black men at her door. She said they offered her a pouch they said was a gift for her with no further explanation. She said she frequently receives gifts from admirers and didn't look at it until the following morning. “I saw a few stones in there. And they were small dirty-looking stones,” she said. She said, at breakfast the following day, either Farrow or Campbell's former agent Carole White had told her the rocks must be diamonds and were probably a gift from Taylor. Campbell said she then gave them to a friend, Jeremy Ratcliffe, the director of Mandela's children's charity. The supermodel, who had fought hard to avoid testifying, arrived at the courthouse in Leidschendam surrounded by a police escort. She wore a demure cream two-piece outfit and her hair was piled up into a classic chignon. Entering the courtroom fashionably late, Campbell was calm and composed as she quickly answered questions from prosecutor Brenda Hollis. “I didn't really want to be here,” she said. “I just want to get this over with and get on with my life.”
