In exchange for diamonds, Taylor gave the RUF arms, which the RUF used to a gruesome end - they attacked villages and rendered the inhabitants homeless - and then "invited" the villagers to join the RUF.
The RUF had no political agenda".
The RUF smuggles diamonds into neighbouring Liberia, where President Charles Taylor, who helped launch the RUF, is, according to the British, swapping them for weapons and ammunition.
The RUF has even captured 500 of its peacekeepers, mostly Zambians.
The RUF survives by looting villages, mining diamonds and abducting recruits.
The RUF has a complicated organisation which he has to master.
The RUF was notorious for systematic rape, mutilation and abduction, with child soldiers often drugged before being sent into battle.
The RUF, however, requested that elections be postponed until it could reach a peace agreement with the government; this request was rebuffed, and the RUF intensified its violent campaign.
The RUF may be willing to talk in Sierra Leone, where British and UN troops have blocked its progress.
The RUF guesthouse provided a base for the RUF in Monrovia, which facilitated the regular transfers of arms and ammunition from the Accused to the RUF, as well as diamonds from the RUF to the Accused, transactions which played a vital role in the military operations of the RUF in which crimes were committed..
The RUF were accused of committing atrocities and employing child soldiers during the civil war.
