Concord Times (Freetown) January 17, 2001 By Joseph Dumbuya Freetown The row over the discovery and purchase of a 28-carat diamond by a certain Maraka led to the expulsion of some 42 of them from Kono by the rebels, a civilian from Koidu speaking from a position of anonymity told Concord Times. He revealed that when news of the diamond broke out, the rebels mounted an investigation. Junior Sankoh, Blood Master and Col. Blood were ordered to retrieve the diamond. Failure to achieve this saw the rebels directing their anger at the Marakas accusing them of complicity. They detained 42 Marakas mostly Malians in a container at Motema to force them into disclosing the buyer of the diamond. 'When this failed they took the Marakas to Makali in the Tonkolili District and ordered them to leave their territory' the source said. 'The rebels accused the Marakas of being agents of President Kabbah, who has sent them into their territory to spy on them'. Meanwhile, Kono is said to have a large population of foreigners especially Marakas from Mali, Senegal and Gambia. They are said to be doing brisk business with rebels and their agents in Guinea and their home country. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------