Campbell's Complaint About Diamond Testimony Inspires Online Game
Post Date: 19 Aug 2010 Viewed: 480
Supermodel Naomi Campbell, who is suspected of receiving conflict diamonds from former Liberian president Charles Taylor, is now the star of a satirical online computer game, The Daily Star reports.
Campbell is suspected of having received the diamonds from Taylor in 1997 and last week was called to testify in Taylor's ongoing trial for alleged war crimes committed during his presidency. Campbell said of the procedure, "This is a terrible inconvenience for me," prompting the genesis of the game.
"24 Carat Campbell" gives players 30 seconds to hurl diamonds at an animated image of Campbell show in a swank hotel setting.
The game was created by Nicolas Jacquart, who said it had been a hit and that customers were having a "good laugh at her expense as they lavish diamonds on her."
Campbell has said that in 1997 she had not known of the existence of either Charles Taylor or the illegal diamond trade.
Conflict diamonds, like the ones Campbell allegedly received from Taylor, are traded illegally in the context of civil strife in African diamond-producing nations and both their mining and sale involve serious human rights violations. The diamond industry is taking steps to keep conflict diamonds off the market, and diamond suppliers are expected to investigate the source of their rough diamonds to ensure that they are conflict-free.