THE plot could have come straight from a John le Carre novel — with a cast including a former warlord, a supermodel, an actress and a bag full of blood diamonds.

SUPERMODEL Naomi Campbell was today granted “protective measures” ahead of her appearance in court to give evidence in the case against former warlord Charles Taylor.

LAWYERS defending former Liberian president Charles Taylor have filed an urgent motion in an attempt to delay supermodel Naomi Campbell giving evidence in his war crimes trial.

A WAR crimes court ruled yesterday that prosecutors can call supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify over a “blood diamond” she allegedly received from Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor.

PROSECUTORS want to subpoena supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify over a so-called blood diamond she allegedly received from Liberia’s ex-president Charles Taylor, court papers filed yesterday revealed.

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor today boycotted the landmark first international war crimes trial of a former African leader being held in The Hague, Netherlands.

Britain circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution yesterday that would move the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor from Sierra Leone to the Netherlands because of the danger he would pose by remaining in the West Africa region.

Liberia’s one-time warlord Charles Taylor was in the hands of Sierra Leone’s tribunal today, where he is set to become the first-ever African head of state tried on war crimes charges by an international court.

LIBERIAN President Charles Ghankay Taylor — known as “Pappy” to his band of child soldiers — is a wanted man in West Africa.

A UN backed court indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor today for war crimes, accusing him of “the greatest responsibility” in a vicious ten year rebel terror campaign in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah is expected to win a landslide victory in Sierra Leone’s election after initial indications put his Sierra Leone’s People’s Party well ahead of the opposition Revolutionary United Front.

Most fighters in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war have turned over their weapons to UN peacekeepers.

Liberia’s foreign minister has denied his country is violating United Nations sanctions on arms, travel and the diamond trade, saying that the bans are hurting ordinary citizens.

A 10-year-old boy who suffered severe burns in Sierra Leone after he was tortured by rebels has arrived in the UK to undergo medical treatment.

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions against Liberia for failing to sever its ties with rebels in Sierra Leone.

The new United Nations refugee chief has appealed for a "safe corridor" for refugees from Guinea's southern borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone.