Defense counsel is continuing with the cross-examination of Ian Smillie (IS).

Defense is asking about membership in the Kimberley Process.

IS: Members are governments or supranational institutions like the EU.  46 governments +EU governments.  Civil society organizations have observer status.  At one point more than 200 NGOs involved.  Now most civil society represented by Partnership Africa Canada and Global Witness – at last meeting also African and Latin American NGOs.  Decisions are made by consensus of members.

Def: Do you have personal knowledge of the victims who appeared in the video clips shown yesterday, or the locations?

IS: I didn’t know those individuals.  I know Freetown, which was shown in the video.  It’s not clear where the other areas in the film were, so I don’t know if I’ve been there.  I have traveled extensively in Sierra Leone.

Defense is now asking about the statistics given in Smillie’s report to the court.  Defense is asking about Belgian import statistics on “so-called Liberian diamonds” in relation to Smillie’s reports on when the RUF controlled diamond areas in Kono District and Tongo Field.  The defense is trying to establish that the biggest annual increase in diamond imports to Belgium at a time when the RUF was not in control of Kono District or Tongo Field. 

IS: These figures are not reliable figures, and cannot be directly correlated with mining in Sierra Leone or Liberia.

Def: So they cannot be correlated with mining by the RUF?

IS: Correct.

Defense is now asking about the composition of the UN panel of experts on Liberia, on which Smillie served.  What was the chairman’s expertise?

IS: The chairman, a Cameroonian, was selected as a diplomatic generalist.

Defense is asking about the other members.  One was an expert in air-traffic control.  Another, Johann Peleman, was selected as an expert on the international arms trade.  Another member from India was a policing expert.  Defense is attempting to contrast their qualifications with those of the witness, who had been working on the diamond issue for around a year and a half with Partnership Africa Canada.